May 2017 Edition

May 2017

FREE

Simone Crawley

“Advancing Cultural Competence”

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My Friend with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

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African-American Women and Breast Cancer

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By JoAnna Williamson

By Kim Point, CHW

Diversity In Leadership: Improving Patient Outcomes

By Charleta B. Tavares

OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OHIO.

To find out more about what we’re doing in the community and how you can get involved visit aarp.org/oh.

Publisher’s Page Founder & Publisher Ray Miller

Layout & Design Rod Harris

Assistant Editor Ray Miller, III

Associate Editor Edward Bell IT Specialist Angela Robison Distribution Manager Ronald Burke Research Associate Florence Ogola

Lead Photographer Steve Harrison

Contributing Editors Edward Bell, MBA Lisa Benton, MD, MPH Rodney Q. Blount, Jr. MA Jacqueline Lewis-Lyons, Psy.D Cecil Jones, MBA William McCoy, MPA Senator Charleta B. Tavares Alethea E. Gaddis Liz Queen Kim Point, CHW Priscilla Tyson, Columbus City Council Pro Tem Dr. Canise Y. Bean, DMD, MPH Michael Watkins Howard Williams Rev. Dr. Tim Ahrens James Miller

The Columbus African American news journal was founded by Ray Miller on January 10, 2011

As a young man--25 years old, I was hired as the Assistant Field Director for the re-election campaign of Governor John Gilligan in 1974. Securing the job resulted from yet, one more calculated move by my mentor, State Representative C. J. McLin, Jr. of Dayton, Ohio. By this time, I had already served as a Legislative Intern and a Legislative Aide to Governor Dick Celeste when he was a Member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

Because of my age and being relatively unknown to the many African American administrators in the Gilligan Administration (whose anxiety about keeping their jobs was on high-alert), I found myself being regularly challenged, criticized and insulted by more than a few of these “High Ranking Officials.” In fact, some of them were down-right nasty toward me. I vowed then, and my commitment has remained to this day, to always encourage and support young people in their career pursuits, as aggressively as possible. It is from this foundation that I wish to share a few thoughts regarding young leaders of the past, the present and the future.

An illustrative point of departure for this brief discussion could logically be the brilliant, bold, and oftentimes brash young leaders of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem (Negro) Renaissance occurred in this chronological context--emerging in the 1920’s, following World War I and for two decades after the war through the Great Depression and then trailing off during the start of World War II. Within this twenty year period there was a virtual explosion of poetic, literary, artistic, musical, political, and inventive African American genius.

Imagine the excitement and the creative and intellectual stimulation flowing from the concentration of Langston Hughes, Claude McCay, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, Alain Locke, Zora Neal Hurston, Gwendolyn Bennett, Arthur Schomburg, Richard Wright, Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Sterling A. Brown, Oscar Micheaux, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Duke Ellington, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Charles Hamilton Houston, Kelly Miller, E. Franklin Frazier, Garrett A. Morgan, A. Phillip Randolph, Marcus Garvey, Joe Louis and Jessie Owens--all substantially reshaping America within a period of just two decades. They were not seeking approval or validation. They were all singing their own song, and while acting in a a race conscious, collective manner, they were still able to assert their individuality and humanitarian spirit.

I often pose this question to young people today: Who are the individuals of your generation who you most admire? To my amazement, many of them respond by saying, there isn’t anyone or they cite President Barack Obama who is 5​5​years old and not of their generation, Michael Eric Dyson​, 58​years old, Jay Z​,​​47​, ​​Beyonce,​35, ​Kendrick Lamar​, 29​and N​a​s​, 43. Who are the 23-38 year old African Americans who are making a major impact on our nation and the world. Those individuals exist but, all of the oxygen is being sucked up by entertainers, athletes, and actors. It is essential that the thought leaders be identified and given far more support and exposure than they have been receiving.

It is important for the older generation to better understand the millennials, those born between 1980 and 1999. They believe in social activism. They are well educated. Roughly 58 percent will receive a bachelor’s degree. Approximately 40 percent of African American millennials use Twitter, compared with 28 percent of their white peers. About 6 percent of millennials identify as LGBTQ. Of that number, 40 percent are people of color. Black millennials are more likely to support LGBTQ rights. They don’t have time for mainstream media. If it is not on-line, it is not on-time. Black millennials are leaving organized religion. Overall, roughly 29 percent of millennials are not religiously affiliated.

It is critically important that we begin a serious dialogue with our young people about the kind of leadership we need today. I am engaged in doing this work, to a large extent, through my efforts with the Progressive Leadership Academy. The saddest thing to witness is how so many older leaders are teaching our young people how to “Get Theirs” and sell out whoever is in their way. We see it in politics, the academe’, government, corporations and non-profit organizations.

They need to know that they can serve all of humanity, while specifically responding to the disparities and critical issues that impact African Americans and other people of color. Finally, they need to borrow from the example set by many of those leaders in the Harlem Renaissance who, in the words of Dr. Alain Locke, “..........if America were deaf, they would still sing.”

With Appreciation and Respect,

The Columbus African American 503 S. High Street - Suite 102 Columbus, Ohio 43215 Office: 614.826.2254 editor@columbusafricanamerican.com

Ray Miller Founder & Publisher

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The Columbus African American • May 2017

In This Issue

17 Opiates in Columbus 18 Start Now to Plan Your Restorative “Summer Camp” 20 COVER STORY 23 Reflections on Cultural Diversity 24 Diversity in Your Network Relationships 25 Strategies for Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Mortgage Industry 26 Second Baptist Church Celebrates 78th Annual Women’s Day 27 Book Bags & E-Readers 28 Job Opportunities

Simone Crawley

People-of-Color Often Don’t Fill

Cover Story – Page 20

15 17 28 5

Cultural Humility: A Key to Improving Health

31 Legislative Update 32 “The Persistent Widow”

For African American Seniors, Improved Overall Health Starts with Oral Health Care

By Dr. Canise Y. Bean, DMD, MPH

By Michael Watkins & Howard Williams

Maximizing Your Elder

A Little Muscle Can Go A Long Way

10 Diversity In Leadership: Improving Patient Outcomes

Physician in Athens / Booker T. Washington’s Brother-in-Law 35 My Brother’s Keeper 36 Community Events

16 Access to Fresh Food

with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s

American Community 17 For African American Seniors,

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Need A Checkup?

Improved Overall Health Starts

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African-American Women and

with Improved Access to Oral

The Columbus African American • May 2017

34 Dr. Noah Elliott: Pioneering

Improving Health Important to the African-

Breast Cancer

Transformative Tenure as

15 Cultural Humility: A Key to

How Is My Friend – The One Disease?

33 Curtis Stitt to Retire, Capping President and CEO

Job Opportunities People-of-Color Often Don’t Fill

Health

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Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Equitas Health

Relatives’ Independence and 6

30 King Arts Complex

Health Care

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All contents of this news journal are copyrighted © 2015; all rights reserved. Title registration with the U.S. Patent Office pending. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, and illustrations will not be returned unless accompanied by a properly addresses envelope bearing sufficient postage. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited materials.

HEALTH MAXIMIZING YOUR ELDER RELATIVES’ INDEPENDENCE AND HEALTH

By Alethea E. Gaddis When you think about role reversal and caring for elderly relatives, in its purest form it is simply doing for them what they probably did for you. I also think of one of the beatitudes, “Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31, NIV).

I believe most people desire that their parents and other relatives age with dignity and live their later years independently and happily. Often families give consideration to this reality later rather than sooner. When our parents neared their late sixties, my siblings and I began discussing and evaluating their living situation at the time.

We maintained our hope that they would live out their days in the home they built, raised their family and hosted countless gatherings of family and friends. Even though we engaged in those early conversations, when our mother suffered her first bout with a critical illness we discovered that mere discussion wasn’t nearly as efficient as a strategic plan to care for the needs of our parents. Families who plan early and strategically to make any necessary changes and adjustments to the caregiving scenario significantly increase the likelihood of the elderly being able to stay in their homes for as long as possible.

There are many details to consider to ensure the elderly maintain their independence and health.

Here are some practical tips to help promote and maintain independence of the elderly.

1. Assess and anticipate caregiving needs. Try to imagine what your parent or elderly relative or friend will need on a daily or weekly basis. Of course you can never be fully prepared. Begin to monitor, in consultation with your elders’ primary care physician, specialists, and pharmacist, both over-the-counter drugs and prescription medications to ensure that there are no adverse drug reactions or bad reactions between several drugs. Make sure that all medications are appropriate for your care receiver’s individual needs and that the rules for safely taking drugs are being followed. When possible, attend physician appointments, ask the critical questions, keep copious notes, and maintain test results from procedures performed in a secure location.

Avail yourself of this information because the day will come when you will need to be their chief advocate. It is helpful to have a Power of Attorney for healthcare. This gives a designated person the authority to make health care decisions on behalf of the person.

As time progresses, their daily needs will change and require a greater level of attention and management. One major factor in an elderly person’s independence is their ability to drive.

If they are not capable of doing so without possibly causing injury to themselves or others, then arrange other transportation options. In

Columbus and other municipalities, volunteer groups, and nonprofit organizations offer seniors rides for little to no fee.

It was tremendous adjustment for our mother when she was no longer able to drive. She was accustomed to working and driving to choir rehearsal and other church committee meetings.

Her daily routine was full and included attending her grandchildren’s school activities, her own social activities, the stores, to the vault where she stored her minks during the summer, and any errand that came to mind. Eventually, we became her chauffeur, accompanying her anywhere she wanted or needed to go. This commitment required a significant amount of time and coordination. However, we made it a priority for it helped minimize the loss of her diminishing independence.

When she needed assistance dispensing her medications, we developed a chart and schedule so that while she has able, she could take her own medications and check them off the list. Again, this applied a balm to the bite of dwindling independence.

Elders need for assistance will be housework, home maintenance and lawn work. We managed the housework and Dad came to understand that he could no longer manage the yard. By securing lawn care service, he is now able to relax on the patio while enjoying a nap. Please believe that making the necessary preparations for accomplishing these tasks are critical to the physical and emotional wellbeing of your elderly family, relatives or friends.

2. Financial management duties often need to be assumed by someone else. It is necessary to see take steps to designate a Power of Attorney for finances. This gives a designated person the authority to make legal/financial decisions on behalf of the elders in your life. Also, while anyone can be a victim of financial fraud, older adults are particularly at risk. Among the reasons: 5

Scam artists and thieves know that many senior citizens have accumulated money and other assets throughout the years. Those who commit elder fraud range from loved ones — family members, friends or caregivers — to complete strangers.

My siblings and I unashamedly monitor phone calls and suspicious mail. Protecting assets also protects their health and wellbeing.

3. Long term care and life insurance with true living benefits are essential elements for physical and financial health well-being. In some cases it seems like you cannot afford to add another expenditure to your budget. But, can you really afford to need the protection and not have it? Until I became a licensed agent I did not understand this and we saw first-hand how it could have helped significantly by increasing our ability to care for Mom during her years of decline and in preparation of whatever may come in Dad’s remaining days.

Most of us know people who worked hard to plan for financial security. Yet, none of us can plan for the surprises that life may bring to our door. And even the most well-thoughtout plans may not be enough to prepare you for the unexpected costs associated with long-term care. Life insurance with true living benefits is a policy that offers death benefit protection, but also provides living benefits. These living benefits provide the option to receive an accelerated death benefit in the event of a qualifying chronic, critical or terminal illness, while the insured is alive. From our personal experience, I share with families that a living benefit policy would have assisted with financial needs while our Mother was facing multiple critical and chronic illnesses. It’s better to make the investment when you are younger.

4. Diet, exercise, mental and social stimulation are absolutely imperative to all of us, especially the elderly. Ensure your elder is eating a healthy Continued on Page 6

The Columbus African Journal • February 2015 TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017

HEALTH

Continued from Page 5 diet of fresh fruits and vegetables. If medical problems are factored into the equation, ask their physician if changes in diet should be made and whether you should consult a registered dietician for additional information.

If reasonably healthy, your elderly family member or loved one can engage in a regular program of exercise including stretching, weight training and low-impact aerobics, after discussing it with his or her physician. Exercise can help to avoid accidents, improve strength and mobility, lower blood pressure, and help to prevent or control some diseases. If your care receiver is frail or ill, please ask the physician about what exercises may be appropriate. It may be advisable for your elder to begin an exercise program under a physical therapist’s supervision. Mom’s physical therapist showed her how to do range of motion, stretching and strengthening exercises.

Over time, these exercises did help to increase

strength and mobility. By learning the exercises, my siblings and I were able to encourage her to engage in the physical activity, even when the physical therapist wasn’t present. This also gave us an opportunity to interact with her verbally and stimulate her cognitive function.

We’ve all heard that it’s best to keep the elderly’s’ mind stimulated and engaged but few of us understand why. After reading and researching, Mom’s geriatric specialist confirmed for us that aging individuals who don’t stimulate their minds regularly may be more at risk for diseases such as various forms of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Apparently, the aging brain is no less capable of learning new things that a younger brain. This was of significant interest to me because the Thompson cousins discussed years ago that we needed to observe our parents for cognitive changes because we believed it to be hereditary.

God does all things well and with a specific purpose in mind. Observing my young great

nieces and nephews, I am convinced the brain craves and thrives on challenging learning opportunities at the beginning of the life cycle.

With children, we cultivate their intellect and cognitive development by taking the time to provide new ideas and experiences to keep those brain cells stimulated. We must do the same throughout the life cycle, especially as our elders depend more and more on us for their care.

This task of maximizing the independence and health of our elders is no trivial undertaking. I believe the desire to care for our elders is inborn and rooted in our African ancestry. There are many facets to explore and understand, and space isn’t sufficient to cover this topic adequately, Suffice it to say, sit down with your parents and elderly relatives. Thoroughly evaluate their current living situation and plan strategically for their care. By taking these steps, you’ll not only unburden all concerned, but also increase their chances of aging in place independently, happily, and safely for as long as possible.

A LITTLE MUSCLE CAN GO A LONG WAY

By Lisa Benton, MD, MPH Hooray, I’m still in my 40 days of eating healthy and fasting from processed sugar and junk foods and I have lost some weight. It’s not dramatic and I’ll never be a size 2, but I’ve noticed less sagging fat in enough places to want to keep the momentum going.

There is scientific data to show that African Americans have the potential to become great athletes due to better motor skills, more fasttwitch muscle fibers to give us speed compared to slow-twitch muscle fibers that give endurance and power. There are studies that suggest that the energy pathways in muscles of African Americans have more and busier enzymes at work building them up. Also our higher bone density makes us less at risk for osteoporosis.

Despite studies and theories supporting the superior athletic abilities of African Americans, part of the reason it’s harder to resume exercising is your body’s fight against gravity, time, age and genetics. And of course no smoking since that takes precious and much needed oxygen and other life-giving building blocks away from muscle, bone and every other tissue in your body.

When it comes to keeping your body healthy and in good shape, the goal of use it or lose it really applies here. Research shows us if we slow down or stop exercising and eating right once we start, how hard it is to re-start and get back on track.

Your muscles become deconditioned quite quickly. In fact, if you exercise regularly and then stop for injury or another reason, you can have muscle loss, known as atrophy, in only two weeks.

Studies report that for serious and professional athletes, depending on their sport, the timeframe for muscle loss can range from four to about 30 weeks. The signs of muscle deconditioning may be dramatic in professional athletes because of their intensity of training. For weekend warriors The Columbus African American • May 2017

or if you don’t exercise at all, the time frame for when muscles atrophy starts can be a lot shortera week or two.

Although some research shows that the amount of time to have muscles atrophy varies depending on the mix of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers you have, the bottom line is inactivity leads to loss of strength and muscle function. Sadly it takes less time to lose muscle than to build it up at any age.

Add to the muscle loss picture that as you get older, your muscles become more fat content and less muscle mass. This is a normal aging process known as sarcopenia. Muscle becoming fattier means loss of strength and muscle size.

Remember how in your teens or twenties, you could be out of school for the summer and out of gym class but could bounce right back into the routine when school started. Consider that now in your thirties, forties and beyond, you take a week off from exercising for spring break and it takes almost a month to bounce back.

Surgery is considered an art form like painting, music, sculpting or a ballet by many if not almost all surgeons. Consider the roles of doctors and the words they use on any makeover show.

Often you’ll hear them walk through their plans much the way an architect, engineer or designer approaches a new or re-design project.

For surgeons and other doctors the human body is the canvas and we would always like to create a masterpiece or come really close whenever we operate. Part of getting the best result is in the preparation and care afterward.

For surgeons, knowing that most of our operations involve cutting through or separating muscles, it is always in our patients’ interest to make sure their muscles and the rest of their bodies are in the best shape possible. In the case of knee, hip, ankle or shoulder surgery, we encourage our patients to continue passive range of motion exercises and exercises that do not stress the joints before surgery.

Increasing protein intake along with food and 6

supplements high in vitamin C, D, A and B vitamins, calcium, magnesium and zinc are important for better and faster healing of muscle and other tissues. Don’t forget that African American need more vitamin D and that vitamin D has been shown to support healing and reduce damage in just about every part of your body.

Taking part in physical and occupational therapy are very important since it teaches the proper mechanics to protect healing muscles while rebuilding and getting them back to their peak strengths and flexibility. Continuing to follow exercise plans makes a real difference in your recovery since muscle and tissue healing goes on for months after any operation.

Continuing to stick to an exercise plan with healthy eating will strengthen your muscles and help you look and feel better. It doesn’t happen overnight. Science lets you know that you’ll have to stay with your program longer and work harder to shed and keep the weight off.

I’m seeing the benefits of having more energy and feeling the difference in my knees and hips.

I’m sleeping better and have a lower blood pressure. Although on some days I don’t feel like exercising or want to eat another slice of pizza or a cookie, I’ll choose the fruit and take the stairs over the elevator. I’m on the right track and trying to keep it going.

You’re in a battle against age, time and your environment that may not have easy access to the healthiest food choices. While the world and everything else around you that tells you to eat whatever and how much you want and be a sloth or buy instant weight loss, great muscles and beauty in a bottle can or gadget, try to ignore them. You have to choose to push, walk, run, jump, plank and squat through the noise to a higher ground and better health. I promise you won’t regret it.

Lisa D. Benton, MD, MPH (The Doctor is In) breastsurgeonlb@gmail.com, Twitter:@DctrLisa (415) 746-0627

HEALTH

HOW IS MY FRIEND – THE ONE WITH EARLY-ONSET ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE?

By JoAnna Williamson Thank you for asking about her. Again.

For those of you who know me, you know her too.

She became my best friend when we were 12 years old. Forty years later, at the age of 52, she was one of about 5% of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease to receive this diagnosis before the age of 65 – a phenomenon known as early onset Alzheimer’s. For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’ll protect her privacy by calling her Bobbi, and I’ll share with you this answer I’m finally giving to people who have asked me how she’s doing.

Yes, I’ve intentionally not talked to you about her.

I avoided it because of her pride. Alzheimer’s is a debilitating disease that’s most commonly known symptom is severe memory loss. However, it robs you of your cognitive abilities in related ways such as problem solving, planning, following routines and instructions, and making decisions.

For Bobbi, it happened at a time in her life when she was planning to embark on a new career, in a new city, as a newly divorced single parent of sons who had just reached manhood, which gave her a newly found freedom. Since I was in a state of career transition too, she had encouraged me to join her for this journey to her new geographic destination, which is how we happened to be temporarily living under the same roof when the subtle symptoms began to appear.

Bobbi had been concerned for some time when she finally got the nerve to share with me her fear that she had the disease. She was concerned because of heredity. Her mother and several of her mother’s sisters had succumbed to the same disorder, which has been linked to genetic causes. Also, in general, African-Americans are twice as likely to develop the later-age form of Alzheimer’s, often less likely at all ages to seek diagnosis and medical attention, and more likely to suffer from disorders such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes that can decrease brain health and increase the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Bobbi was also concerned because of the activities of daily living that were becoming more challenging for her. She kept finding herself in strange situations that interfered with her life in significant ways. As a young Alzheimer’s victim, she faced the added complication of still being employed when she began experiencing signs of the illness. She was known for her punctuality until she began forgetting to re-set her alarm clock on days when there were changes in her work schedule. Her job became even more in jeopardy when she couldn’t learn the new computer system despite repeated training sessions. One day, she sneaked to the phone to call me for a reminder of how to even turn a computer on and off. Another time, after she had downsized to a less demanding job, a co-worker called me to check on her when she missed a day of work due to an unrelated brief illness, and explained to me how Bobbi would follow her around all day as though she was uncertain how to approach her work tasks on her own.

At home, Bobbi had erupted into tears during a game night when she repeatedly forgot the steps of a competitive board game. This kind of agitation and depression that can accompany Alzheimer’s may be in part physical and in part psychological.

Bobbi applied to the master’s degree program she had been researching for so long, but months later she couldn’t remember how to check her e-mail messages and confirm her acceptance. A friend

who helped her prepare her taxes that year called me to confide that it had taken most of the day to guide Bobbi through a simple 1040EZ form.

Bobbi even admitted to me that she had been buying prepared foods for dinner every evening because she couldn’t quite remember how to use the kitchen appliances. The first time she had a problem with cooking, she was the only person in our shared house who didn’t react at all when the smoke detector went off, since she didn’t recognize what the loud blaring sound meant. The second time it happened, she was home alone and told us how proud she was that she remembered to call 911 when the house filled with smoke. We both knew we couldn’t risk a third time.

Bobbi was concerned because when she talked to a doctor prior to talking to me, the physician had tried to calm her concerns by assuring her that memory loss is an unfortunate but predictable part of aging. When I went with her on her second trip to a different medical professional, I stayed in the room with her while they gave her standard memory tests that my aging mind struggled with a bit as well. I couldn’t remember the last few words in the string of terms they asked her to repeat. I was a bit fuzzy on the exact months and years in which some memorable events had happened in my life. But when I told the physician’s assistant what Bobbi had been going through on a daily basis, she put the tests aside and began to furiously take notes. The feedback from someone who has watched the daily disintegration of an Alzheimer’s patient holds valuable information that helps lead to a diagnosis of a cognitive malfunction more serious than normal aging. I have since told people who worry about their memory that based on my non-medical observations, forgetting where you put your keys is likely just an annoying, but not troubling, lapse of memory. Holding the keys in your hand and forgetting how to use them to start the car or unlock the door is likely a sign of a much bigger problem.

I’ve avoided talking to you about Bobbi because the past 7-8 years haven’t been a pretty process.

Alzheimer’s is an agonizingly slow walk through what Bobbi described as doors in her mind that seemed to keep closing behind her as she has progressed from what is known as the mild to the moderate to now the severe stage of her disease.

She was always so full of life and distinct laughter 7

and passion and emotion, but with Alzheimer’s, even her emotional processing began to fluctuate as much as her cognitive processing. She would sob uncontrollably when her mind was still functional enough to realize what was happening to her. She would lash out verbally and even physically at her personal and professional caregivers for reasons no one could explain or predict based on what may have been a pleasant mood just hours earlier.

Sundowning is the name given to the tendency for Alzheimer’s patients to decline as the day winds down, and ultimately they may lose the ability to regulate their body clock at all, resulting in overnight angst for caregivers who try to get them to sleep or at least stay calm throughout the night.

There is rarely rest in an Alzheimer’s household.

I’ve avoided talking to you about Bobbi because I’ve felt like there’s nothing hopeful I can say.

Alzheimer;s is a progressive disease for which there is no cure. There have been clinical trials on laboratory animals that gave researchers hope, but so far there have been no breakthroughs in human trials. There are no preventive vaccines, but following good health practices and staying mentally engaged and challenged may be helpful.

There are medications that may help with Alzheimer’s symptoms such as irritability and loss of appetite, but these can cause the visible signs and side effects of sedation that families often dread. There are medications that are prescribed to try to slow the disease’s progression and devastation, but for Bobbi, we’re told it’s unlikely the disease will be wiped out in her lifetime.

How long is Bobbi’s lifetime? I’ve avoided talking to you about Bobbi because I don’t know how long her lifetime will be. Alzheimer’s or the numerous bodily complications of deteriorating brain cells are among the top 10 causes of death in the United States. But as is sometimes the case with early onset Alzheimer’s, while her quality of life has deteriorated, several of Bobbi’s medical vital signs are still strong, and her body is healthier than older Alzheimer’s patients.

I’ve avoided talking to you about Bobbi because I haven’t had anything helpful to say. Alzheimer’s care options can range over time from home care to adult day care to assisted living facilities or nursing homes. It’s inevitable that Alzheimer’s sufferers will ultimately need 24/7 care, which makes it impossible for most families to provide long-term care for them at home. Beyond just determining the best care plan, receiving and acting on financial advice can be confusing and expensive, given the myriad of options for early onset and traditional Alzheimer’s patients such as private pay, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, early retirement, and long-term care insurance.

It is not unusual and sometimes required for an Alzheimer’s patient’s assets to be depleted, which can lead to financial hardships for spouses, children, and other extended family members and friends who may choose to help.

I’ve avoided talking about Bobbi because of the grief that begins as soon as the diagnosis occurs.

It’s sad. It’s random. It’s life-altering for the entire family and support system. Since Bobbi is relatively young, her children are young too.

Her 20-something and now 30-something-yearold sons have had to figure out how to integrate their mother’s illness into the time in their lives when they should be pursuing their own purpose and passion. And often disproportionately for one or several family members more than others, Continued on Page 8

TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

HEALTH

Continued from Page 7 caregiving becomes the caregiver’s primary purpose and passion. More than any of these other factors, it’s this reality that’s finally given me the courage to no longer avoid talking to you about Bobbi.

I cared for my own dad when he lapsed into one of the other causes of dementia that have similar symptoms. His dementia was not due to Alzheimer’s, but instead was the irreversible aftermath of a concussion resulting from a fall. A colleague who had just lost her father after being his Alzheimer’s caregiver lovingly told me that the time I would spend as my dad’s sustenance would be a “gift” to me, since I would be doing what she called “God’s work.” It didn’t seem much like a blessing at the time, as we witnessed the daily demise of a respected grown man who slowly reverted to a childlike state. But in retrospect, interspersed with the weariness and the sadness and even the anger, there were moments that looking back, I would now label as the joy of seeing momentary glimpses of his personality. The happiness when he showed recognition and even pleasure of who I was. The unavoidable humor of when he engaged in some innocent childlike act. The peace of seeing him relax against his will when I stroked his head and shoulders. The fun of watching his foot tap to a familiar beat. The dignity of holding his still-strong hand. The spirituality of him finding the words to tell me not to try to keep him here whenever God called for him to come there. His stubbornness when he decided in ways science still doesn’t understand, that he would refuse to eat, refuse further treatment, and finally, refuse to stay here any longer.

I won’t avoid talking to you about Bobbi anymore because I can now talk to you about it in the spiritual realm in which I choose to believe she still exists, not in the worldly view her deteriorating body presents. I’ve ‘watched her older son, the one she cried and worried and prayed about, turn the

tables and now become the loving parental figure.

He even tried to keep her in his home when she was no longer able to live alone. He reluctantly agreed with us that homecare would no longer be possible only when she wandered out one day and ended up walking into a childcare center that may have reminded her of the adult day care that was one of the interim options he had come up with for her.

I’ve watched Bobbi’s son attend care team meetings with me and the other “auntie” who are like sisters to his only-child mom, and decide to give us medical and financial power of attorney.

That way, he can still serve in a consultative role as we make the business and healthcare decisions, leaving him free to do the nurturing and pampering that both Bobbi and he still so desperately need from each other – after all, she is still his mother, no matter what her condition. He visits her multiple times a week in the nursing home where she now resides, combing her hair, bringing her sweet treats, playing her favorite music although he’s not sure she really hears it, kissing her while propping up her body that can no longer support its own weight in a full sitting or standing position.

He walks her down the long hall for exercise. He anxiously awaits those times when he can add to his caring responsibilities the ritual of physically moving her legs and arms and torso in the way it needs to go to ride in his car so she can pay even a brief visit to his home for a holiday or a sunny, warm outdoors getaway.

It was this most recent excursion to Bobbi’s son’s home that led me to understand that I could not only talk to you about her now, but I had to do so because this is what she would want me to do.

She would want me to tell you how her son held her hand the whole time he was driving her to his house, out of love and out of the need to feel her squeeze when she needed him to know she was uncomfortable in some way. Maybe there was too much air, or the seat belt was too tight; her boisterous laugh and sassy wit are gone now since

she is non-communicative and he has to guess what she wants to say. She would want you to know how he stopped through the drive-through of her favorite restaurant to buy her food that he hand-fed when we got to his home, one loving bite at a time, since she can no longer feed herself. She would want me to tell you that in preparation for the visit, he spent the day trimming the shrubs back from the porch so he could more easily pull her up the step to his front porch, as he explained to me in a text message about how he had “mommfied” his house for her comfort.

I’m not an expert on the details of Alzheimer’s or what steps you and your family should take based on your own unique situation. There are resources like the Alzheimer’s Association, AARP, Centers for Disease Control, your own healthcare, legal, and financial advisors, and perhaps even your own experiences or the stories of others you know.

But Bobbi would want me to remind you that this is how we used to do it. Before big jobs and big opportunities took family members to separate homes in separate parts of the country. Before our sense of independence outweighed our need to live in the same house or the same neighborhood to nurture our sense of belonging, in sickness and in health. When living alone made us lonely. This is how we used to care for the elderly: lovingly, respectfully, sharing what little we had for the big returns we got from the sometimes sad satisfaction of doing what is good and right and rewarding in its own tough love way. She would want us to remember that her son is caring for her in the same way she cared for her mom, and in the same way her mother cared for her grandmother who I know only from that photo that now sits on the nightstand in the shared room in Bobbi’s nursing home. Bobbi would remind you that even when we are no longer whole, we can still be Holy and follow the commandment to honor our fathers and our mothers. Bobbi would want me to tell you that she is still fine, thank you, because she is still blessed.

NEED A CHECKUP? Everything said in the privacy of the office, stays

By Jacqueline Lewis-Lyons, in the office.

Psy.D If you have medical/behavioral health insurance, it would be good to check which providers are “Okay, I need a ‘check-up’. What on your insurance. If you don’t have insurance, do I do now?” consider contacting a community mental health For most people, the idea of center or a church counseling center. Next, you going to see a psychologist or want to make sure that the therapists you call counselor is quite nerve-wracking. In addition to have experience working with your issues. Yes, whatever issues someone is dealing with, there you should pick two or three names and talk with is often an increase in anxiety about making that them by phone for a few minutes. Remember, first contact. It is not uncommon for some people you are interviewing them. It’s okay to ask to ask someone else to make the initial phone call questions about their education, style of practice, for them. Even after an appointment is set, some and specialty areas. Most therapists have chosen potential clients don’t show up. That is why I a few areas to focus on; no one sees “everything decided to use this follow-up issue to help you and anything”. For example, in my practice, I do understand what it is like to seek out professional not work with substance abuse or teens who are not athletes. treatment for mental health issues.

If you are deciding to try therapy, the first step is Parents who are looking for services for their to congratulate yourself for taking responsibility child should plan to meet the therapist first, to improve your life. There are people who without the child present. That way, they can believe that talking to a friend can stand in for decide who would be a good match for the professional treatment. This is a mistake – the child’s needs. If you are looking for treatment therapeutic relationship is very different from for yourself, be prepared to provide background talking with your friend. While it is great to have information including relationships, medical a solid support network, do you really want your history and medications. The most important friend to know about your personal concerns factor in working effectively with any therapist or issues? How comfortable would you feel is honesty. No psychologist or counselor can help at the next cook out knowing that s/he knows a client who does not tell the truth. It wastes time what happened with your spouse, who is sitting and the client does not receive any benefit from next to you? One of the most important benefits the therapeutic process. of professional counseling is confidentiality. It is important that potential clients realize that The Columbus African American •News May 2017 Journal • February 2015

8

psychologists are not mind readers and we don’t “fix” people. Also, the therapist is not just a store of information, ready to tell the client what to do.

The therapeutic relationship represents teamwork.

It is a process where the psychologist/counselor provides education, insight to help the client learn what they need to make positive changes in his/ her life. Remember, it’s all about the client. The client is committing to do the work outlined by themselves and the therapist. Usually, by the third or fourth session, the therapist will work with you to identify and write specific treatment goals to address your needs. You will likely review these every four to six weeks, tracking progress or making adjustments. The last point I will suggest is that a potential client should be ready to talk.

It’s okay to be nervous or even embarrassed, but you have to get the words out. After all, it is called ‘talk therapy’. I promise you, over time, you will become more comfortable with the process and will be on your way to a healthier, happier life.

Dr. Jacqueline Lewis-Lyons’ office is located in north Columbus. Her practice centers on helping clients with depression and anxiety related disorders. In recent years, after discovering a love of running, she expanded her practice to include services related to Sports Psychology for athletes of all ages and levels. To reach her, call 614-443-7040 or email her at Jacqui@ DrLewisLyons.com

HEALTH

AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN AND BREAST CANCER

By Kim Point, CHW Without a doubt, the words “you have breast cancer” are among the most dreaded words for anyone to hear. I heard those words in 2010 and my life has been forever changed. Unfortunately, far too many women in America will hear these words this year. In fact, according to data provided by Susan G. Komen® Columbus, in the United States, one case of breast cancer is diagnosed every two minutes, and one woman will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes.

The statistics for African-American women in Franklin County are even more alarming.

• African-American women are dying from breast cancer at a 33 percent higher rate than white women..

• African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed with advance breast cancer than white women.

• Nearly half of all breast cancer deaths in African-American women in Columbus are found if five zip codes. (43211,43213, 43219, 43229 & 43232) The Columbus Cancer Clinic, a division of LifeCare Alliance is partnering with Susan G. Komen Columbus to provide education, reduce barriers to care, provide high quality screening mammograms and ultimately reduce the mortality gap between.

Understanding how far we have come in terms of identifying and treating breast cancer is the foundation of recognizing where we are and how much more we need to do in combating this complicated and dreaded disease. My interest in the history of cancer began while sitting in the chemo chair here in Columbus fighting for my life one cold day in January 2010. A friend, who drove me from my small hometown about two hours away, shocked me by telling me I should feel lucky to be sitting in the chemo chair. This friend’s cousin had just been diagnosed ALS/ Lou Gehrig’s Disease of which there is no known treatment or cure. This conversation completely revolutionized how I perceived my treatment.

Like most people, I had no understanding that evidence of breast cancer dates back to an early Egyptian text written in 2500 BC. When discussing treatment options, in this old manuscript, the writer recorded, “there is none.”

Thankfully, that is not the case today. Two books, Bathsheba’s Breast, Women, Cancer & History by James S. Olson and The Emperor of All Maladies, A biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee provide specific accounts of humankind’s progress in defining and treating breast cancer. After reading these books and learning of the advancements in breast cancer detection and treatment, I looked at my own journey with a greater appreciation for those who battled breast cancer before me.

• For example, there was a day in the not so distant past, that women endured surgical

procedures to remove breast cancer while wideawake because anesthesia had not yet been discovered.

• Women endured the removal of their ovaries, adrenal glands and even had holes drilled into their heads to remove their pituitary gland as a means to suppress the body’s production of estrogen, a hormone that feeds some types of breast cancer. I on the other hand, take an estrogen suppressing pill once a day to accomplish the same goal.

• For many centuries women did not feel the freedom to discuss their diagnosis in public, but thankfully, today support groups are available and the need to suffer in silence has ended.

• A combination of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation helped me to beat breast cancer, but these therapy options were not always available.

While much has changed in terms of diagnosing and treating cancer, it remains a great challenge.

According to Susan G. Komen, more than 40,000 women and men are still dying of breast cancer every year in the U.S. I am thankful to have joined the Columbus Cancer Clinic in June of 2016 as their first Community Health Worker to do my part to bring this number down. Breast cancer tried to rob me of my mother, prevent me from seeing my youngest child graduate from high school and caused me to lose my workplace health insurance (pre-Affordable Care Act) while still in treatment. To me, combating breast cancer is personal. I consider it a privilege to help people navigate our complicated healthcare system and to assist people with overcoming barriers to care like transportation and language issues. Beyond that, I strive daily to provide hope and encouragement to people whose lives have been touched by cancer.

The Columbus Cancer Clinic and Susan G. Komen Columbus offer practical ways to end breast cancer once and for all. Education is at the epicenter of that strategy. Spreading the important message of healthy lifestyle choices to aid in prevention and breast self-awareness as well as, knowing what is normal for each individual and reporting changes to a health care provider are paramount. Changes that should be reported include:

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

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• Lump, hard knot or thickening inside the breast or underarm area • Swelling, warmth, redness or darkening of the breast • Change in size or shape of the breast • Dimpling or puckering of the skin • Itchy, scaly sore or rash on the nipple • Pulling in of your nipple or other parts of the breast • Nipple discharge that starts suddenly • New pain in one spot that does not go away The Columbus Cancer Clinic, founded in 1921, is Medicare certified, provides clinical breast exams, screening mammograms, and and soon will offer diagnostic mammograms, ultra sounds and biopsies. We accept all major insurance and services are provided regardless of the ability to pay. The clinic also provides lowincome, under-insured or uninsured individuals living with active cancer with medical supplies, medical equipment, medication assistance, transportation to and from cancer related medical appointments, pantry items and nutritional supplements. Whether it is education, cancer screening or assistance for active cancer patients, the Columbus Cancer Clinic is here to serve our community.

For more information contact: The Columbus Cancer Clinic, 1699 W Mound St, Columbus Ohio 43223. Call (614)263-5006 to schedule an appointment or (614)437-2837 to schedule a presentation.

Visit Website: www.lifecarealliance.org Susan G. Komen Columbus, 929 Eastwind Drive, Suite 211 Westerville, OH 43081. Call 614-2978155 or visit www.komencolumbus.org Kim Point, is the Community Health Worker at The Columbus Cancer Clinic, a division of LifeCare Alliance. Kim is available for cancer education and outreach services. If you would like to schedule a presentation for an event or a health fair, please contact Kim at The Columbus Cancer Clinic, phone (614) 437-2837 or email kpoint@lifecarealliance.org

The Columbus African American • May 2017

HEALTH

DIVERSITY IN LEADERSHIP: IMPROVING PATIENT OUTCOMES

By Charleta B. Tavares PrimaryOne Health® values diversity and inclusion in its leadership, practitioners and staff. Our goal is to reflect our patients and the community we serve from the board to our direct patient care and administrative staff.

We belief that we cannot appropriately serve the needs of our patients nor value them unless we look and speak from their perspectives in our policies, programs and priorities.

PrimaryOne Health believes that diversity is paramount to improving health outcomes for racial and ethnic populations who are disproportionately baring the burden of disease, illness and death in Ohio and throughout the country. The board of directors have made it a strategic priority for the organizations’ staff to become culturally competent in order to work to achieve health equity for their patients. The organization is working with the Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence (MACC) to move the board and staff towards becoming more culturally and linguistically appropriate. In addition, we have created a Cultural Competence Steering Committee to work with MACC to assess and build on strategies to implement the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care. The National CLAS Standards are intended to advance health equity, improve quality, and help eliminate health care disparities by establishing a blueprint for health and health care organizations to: 1. Provide effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs.

Governance, Leadership, and Workforce: 2. Advance and sustain organizational governance and leadership that promotes CLAS and health equity through policy, practices, and allocated resources.

3. Recruit, promote, and support a culturally and linguistically diverse governance, leadership, and workforce that are responsive to the population in the service area.

4. Educate and train governance, leadership, and workforce in culturally and linguistically appropriate policies and practices on an ongoing basis.

Communication and Language Assistance: 5. Offer language assistance to individuals who have limited English proficiency and/or other communication needs, at no cost to them, to facilitate timely access to all health care and services.

6. Inform all individuals of the availability of language assistance services clearly and in their preferred language, verbally and in writing.

7. Ensure the competence of individuals providing language assistance, recognizing that the use of untrained individuals and/or minors as interpreters should be avoided.

8. Provide easy-to-understand print and multimedia materials and signage in the

languages commonly used by the populations in includes African, African American, Asian the service area. and Caucasian professionals in addition to the practitioners and staff that are inclusive of Engagement, Continuous Improvement, and racial, ethnic and cultural populations reflective Accountability: of Central Ohio.

9. Establish culturally and linguistically appropriate goals, policies, and management O h i o ’s e n d o r s e d d e f i n i t i o n : “ C u l t u r a l accountability, and infuse them throughout the Competence is a continuous learning process that organization’s planning and operations. builds knowledge, awareness, skills and capacity 10. Conduct ongoing assessments of the to identify, understand and respect the unique o rg a n i z a t i o n ’s C L A S - r e l a t e d a c t i v i t i e s beliefs, values, customs, languages, abilities a n d i n t e g r a t e C L A S - r e l a t e d m e a s u r e s and traditions of all Ohioans in order to develop into measurement and continuous quality policies to promote effective programs and improvement activities. services.” PrimaryOne Health’s staff is on this 11. Collect and maintain accurate and reliable continuous learning journey to assess, align and demographic data to monitor and evaluate the take actions on policies, practices and strategies impact of CLAS on health equity and outcomes to move the needle towards health equity for all and to inform service delivery. of its patients. PrimaryOne Health has submitted 12. Conduct regular assessments of community its application to MACC to be listed in the health assets and needs and use the results to Ohio Statewide Agency Cultural Competence plan and implement services that respond to the Directory to highlight their efforts to adopt the cultural and linguistic diversity of populations in CLAS Standards and provide culturally and the service area. linguistically appropriate services.

13. Partner with the community to design, implement, and evaluate policies, practices, PrimaryOne Health values and believes in and services to ensure cultural and linguistic diversity and inclusiveness in order to make appropriateness. better decisions, policies and practices to meet 14. Create conflict and grievance resolution our patients’ needs and to improve their health processes that are culturally and linguistically and quality of life. appropriate to identify, prevent, and resolve 1 conflicts or complaints.

National Partnership for Action to End Health 15. Communicate the organization’s progress Disparities. (2011). National stakeholder strategy in implementing and sustaining CLAS to all for achieving health equity. Retrieved from U.S. stakeholders, constituents, and the general public. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health website: http://www.

As noted above, one of the major strategies minorityhealth.hhs.gov/npa/templates/content. to becoming culturally appropriate is to aspx?lvl=1&lvlid=33&ID=286 recruit, promote, and support a culturally and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. linguistically diverse governance, leadership, (2011). HHS action plan to reduce racial and and workforce that are responsive to the ethnic health disparities: A nation free of populations in the service area. More than 35% disparities in health and health care. Retrieved of the organizations’ 41,000+ patients in 2017 from http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/npa/files/ speak a primary language other than English. Plans/HHS/HHS_Plan_complete.pdf To address this and other cultural needs, the board of directors of PrimaryOne Health Charleta B. Tavares is the Chief Executive includes members from the African American, Officer at PrimaryOne Health, a Federally Bhutanese, Caucasian, Ethiopian and refugee Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system communities, Homeless, Latino and rural providing comprehensive primary care, OB-GYN, communities. The Patient Advisory Committee pediatric, vision, dental, behavioral health and also includes further racial, ethnic and specialty care at 11 locations in Central Ohio. cultural communities to bring supplementary The mission is to provide access to services that perspectives, skills and information to the board improve the health status of families including and staff. The Executive Leadership Team of people experiencing financial, social, or cultural the organization is reflective of the patient and barriers to health care. www.primaryonehealth. community demographics as well. This Team org.

The Columbus African American •News May 2017 Journal • February 2015

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Healthier lives begin with volunteering

Diversity within CASA’s volunteer corps is pivotal to the organization’s program as it allows for better representation of the children it serves. “You never know the adult that a child is going to trust and listen to,” Robinson said. “We want to ensure that we are armed with the strongest backgrounds of volunteers so that the children never feel a lack in their sense of security.”

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Franklin County seeks more community members to help abused and neglected kids.

CASA’s volunteer role is extra special as it leaves the volunteer with a sense of hope and determination -the hope that they will change a child’s life for the better and the determination to ensure that the safety and security of a child is realized. When a volunteer becomes a CASA GAL, they give selflessly of themselves. Yet when you ask a CASA GAL about their experience, most answer by saying something like this:

By Shelley Backs How do you feel after you volunteer/ empowered?

Accomplished? Satisfied? The effects that volunteering has on an individual’s life are significant and range from lower stress levels to a greater sense of purpose. But how about when you volunteer to help an abused and neglected child in need of guidance, trust, and support?

“To impact a child’s life is to impact our future.”

“When I can give one child hope, I’ve changed their world.”

“No other volunteer opportunity lets me make this kind of impact.”

“I couldn’t sit by when I knew I could help.”

Every day in Franklin County, a child is left broken and with a great sense of fear and sadness because they have been hurt by the ones they love. In 2016, over 2,700 children found themselves in situations due to no fault of their own. They are physically, emotionally, and sexually abused and neglected. Child abuse and neglect is an epidemic, and luckily our community has an organization to help using volunteer efforts.

CASA trains its volunteers and provides them with the requisite knowledge and skills needed. This includes training in the legal system, case/project management, interviewing and analysis, cultural awareness, investigation, effective communication, child and family development, conflict management, and mental health and substance abuse awareness.

Once assigned to a case, a GAL visits the children at least monthly, often in a foster home, and talks with teachers, doctors, and others close to the child. A GAL then reports their findings to CASA and serves firsthand voice in court to answer questions and make factbased recommendations regarding the children’s best interests. “Many of these children have suffered from horrific abuse and neglect,” Robinson said. “Obviously, learning to trust adults is an issue, and having an older, nurturing adult on their side is critical to their sense of well-being until their nightmare is over.” A CASA volunteer is often the only consistent, caring adult involved from the beginning of a case to the end.

CASA of Franklin County is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide a powerful and consistent voice in court for child victims of abuse and neglect. CASA recruits and trains community members to become volunteer Guardians ad Litem (GAL) for these child victims. A Guardian ad Litem is a trained and committed volunteer who is a sworn officer of the court and who advocates for the best interests of children. They give a child a voice by monitoring the case and guaranteeing the child’s wishes are a priority in an overburdened legal and child welfare system.

Research shows that children who experience the positive CASA GAL relationship are more likely to succeed in school and less likely to get into trouble, abuse illegal substances, or commit child abuse or family violence as adults.

“We give them hope, encouragement, and a chance to grow up all while enriching the lives of our volunteers,” Robinson said.

“The stories you hear on the news are often times CASA cases,” said Kathy Kerr, Executive Director of CASA. “We can’t, unfortunately, take all of the cases so we take the most severe. It is imperative that a child has a voice and we provide that and the consistency that is imperative for a child’s success.” Last year, CASA served 826 abused and neglected children thanks to its 243 volunteer GALs.

An average of five to eight hours a month will change the life of a neglected and abused child and will certainly enrich yours. To learn more, please visit www.casacolumbus.org or contact Beverly Robinson at 614-525-4883. Our next training class begins on May 8, 2017. Male and female volunteers are needed. A child is waiting.

CASA is always in need of passionate volunteers to give a voice to those most vulnerable as they work their way through a large and frightening system. “Our GALs focus only on the child’s best interests,” said Beverly Robinson, Director of Volunteer Management.

“Volunteers come from all walks of life—they do not need to be lawyers or social workers.

Our children most often come from diverse backgrounds and are equally male and female, so having a diverse population of volunteers who can genuinely empathize with these children is invaluable.”

Beverly Robinson

Do you want to enrich your life & help a child?

Will you help an innocent child victim of abuse and neglect?

5-8 hours a month will give these children a chance in life.

Join us for our next training class beginning May 8, 2017! http://www.casacolumbus.org/volunteer/

*Learn more* www.casacolumbus.org* 614-525-7450* 11

TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

Join PrimaryOne Health for our Annual Community Meeting and Reception Join us as we introduce our new board members and share with the community how we are working to improve the health status of central Ohio families.

Monday, May 8, 2017 Columbus Metropolitan Library Downtown 96 S. Grant Ave, 3rd Floor 5pm - 7pm

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The Columbus African American •News May 2017 Journal • February 2015

EQUAL HOUSING

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Some of us have to work on our cartwheels.

COTA KEEPS US MOVING.

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TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

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EquitasHealth.com The Columbus African American • May 2017

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The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

HEALTH

CULTURAL HUMILITY: A KEY TO IMPROVING HEALTH The people of the United States and Columbus are becoming increasingly diverse. As such, we, as a health care provider, are continuously learning how to navigate the complexities of multiculturalism to provide a welcoming healthcare environment and improve people’s health. There are many approaches to cultural competency learning. We recently shifted one of our guiding values from cultural competency to cultural humility. The difference may seem subtle but, in reality, it’s significant.

According to Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, cultural competency is defined as the ability of providers and organizations to effectively deliver health care services that meet the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of patients. In this approach, understanding cultural competency is more of an end product than a continuous learning process.

Cultural humility is described as when a provider suspends what they think they know about a person or culture and instead remains open and listens to what each individual person expresses as their lived experiences, heritage, and culture.

Here’s what a few of our providers practicing at our new King-Lincoln Medical Center and Pharmacy at 750 E. Long St said about cultural humility and how it affects the care they provide.

“Cultural humility is an openness and humble approach to appreciating others. I often hear people say, ‘I don’t see color’. Although I think they have good intentions, on a personal level, I question whether they can truly see me and appreciate my cultural history and background.

Cultural humility requires ongoing self-reflection and learning about and celebrating differences rather than pretending they don’t exist. I find that by employing a philosophy of cultural humility I spend more time listening to patient’s unique histories and stories. Patients appreciate a sincere interest in them and this builds a better rapport and trusting doctor-patient relationship. I pride myself in the education I provide for patients to improve their health but in return, I also learn a great deal from them.” – Heather Crockett-Miller, DDS, MPH, Director of Dental Services “Cultural competency and cultural humility, while related, are very different. Cultural competency is external, it’s learned. Cultural humility comes from within, its practiced. It’s about acknowledging the experience of the person and trying to understand how that experience impacts their health and our interaction. It involves empathy, listening and humility.” – Jessica Sherman, CNP, Nurse Practitioner.

“What cultural humility means to me is the acknowledgement of one’s limitation regarding cultural awareness and actively pursuing opportunities to overcome those limitations. This includes self-awareness of one’s own cultural bias and prejudice. As a healthcare provider, cultural humility empowers me to be an effective patient advocate without presenting a false sense of assimilation into a culture that has historically developed a mistrust of healthcare providers.” – Christina Porter, LPN, Licensed Practical Nurse The following factors can help guide providers

and organizations to becoming more culturally humble: Make a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique. The key to this step is acknowledging that we are never done learning.

One must become humble and flexible enough to look at ourselves critically and desire to learn more. At Equitas Health, our health care staff from our providers to our front desk staff are committed to continuous learning through external continuing education opportunities and through trainings provided through our Institute for LGBTQ Health Equity.

Fix power imbalances. Recognizing that each person brings something different to the table helps us see the value in each person. When providers talk with patients, the patient is the expert on their own life, symptoms, and strengths. The provider holds the power of scientific knowledge, the patient holds the power of personal history and preferences. Both people must collaborate and learn from each other for the best outcomes. At Equitas Health, we start by listening and use techniques such as motivational interviewing to gain insight in the experiences and tendencies of each person to determine the most appropriate plan of care.

Develop partnerships with people and groups who advocate for others. Communities and groups can have a profound impact on systems.

Working to fix power imbalances and committing to self-evaluation have to be done within the larger community to make a difference. Cultural humility is larger than our individual selves. We must advocate for it systemically. At Equitas Health, we know we can’t solve the issues around health care by ourselves. That’s why we work in collaboration with groups like Columbus Public

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

15

Health, Southeast Inc., Columbus City Council, and other consumer-focused advocacy groups.

By adopting a culturally humble approach to care as a community-based health care center, we’re better equipped to achieve our goals of improving health outcomes, and quality of care, and eliminating health disparities.

MORE ABOUT EQUITAS HEALTH Equitas Health (formerly AIDS Resource Center Ohio) is a regional not-for-profit communitybased healthcare system founded in 1984. With 15 offices in 11 cities, it serves more than 67,000 individuals in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia each year through its diverse healthcare and social service delivery system focused around: primary and specialized medical care, dental, behavioral health, HIV/STI prevention, advocacy, and community health initiatives.

The Columbus African American • May 2017

HEALTH

ACCESS TO FRESH FOOD IMPORTANT TO THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY

By Priscilla Tyson, Columbus City Council Pro Tem African-Americans are succeeding in a dangerous race to the top. We are number one in mortality rates for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and high blood pressure.

In Ohio, 37.1 percent of black adults are obese, compared to 30.5 percent of white adults and 26.3 percent of Latinos, according to a recent Health Value Dashboard released by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.

Sugar, salt, saturated fats, processed meats and the traditional “soul food” that define our culture is damaging the health of our community. We take pride in turning lemons into lemonade.

Unfortunately, that transformation is harming us.

The need for our community to change its relationship with food inspired me to begin a twoyear working partnership with Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady, Columbus Public Health and Local Matters to create the Columbus/ Franklin County Local Food Action Plan (LFAP).

There are 4 goals and 27 actions in the LFAP. These include: enhancing coordination and communication between existing food resources and agencies; improving access to and education about healthy, affordable, local food; increasing the role of food in economic development and preventing food-related waste.

Over 1000 residents from 18 neighborhoods participated in the planning process.

As we looked at the data, the need for the LFAP was evident. Many of our residents are dealing with obesity, diet-related diseases, food insecurity and access to fresh local food.

Did you know?

• 1 in 5 children in our community are food insecure and are more likely to experience chronic disease.

• Nearly a quarter of our residents travel 2.5 times farther than the average family to reach a fullservice grocery store – contrasted with reaching a fast food restaurant – which is a rate that is higher than 40 percent in some of our neighborhoods.

• 275,641 Franklin County residents or 23.6 percent have limited access to a grocery store.

• 72,902 of these residents are identified as low income households.

• 60 percent of the adults in Franklin County are overweight or obese.

While we know the significance and the impact of fresh fruit and vegetables on public health, it was found that the majority of our residents are not getting the recommended servings they need.

Columbus City Council is putting funding behind our words. Council supported my legislation to create an additional Columbus Public Health staff position to assist with implementing the LFAP. I am also funding the Local Food Advisory Board that will be established within Columbus Public

Health to provide expertise with executing actions included in the plan.

There are key aspects that will impact the AfricanAmerican Community. For example, in order to improve food access and education, the LFAP seeks to “engage those most impacted by health disparities, including low-income, AfricanAmerican, Hispanic, New American and other underrepresented communities, in developing and implementing culturally appropriate food assistance, education, nutrition, gardening and cooking programs.”

My colleagues also supported passing legislation to fund community gardens. Gardens are one tool to improve access and education related to healthy, affordable local food. Last year, 13 of the 26 gardens receiving City grants harvested approximately 10,000 pounds of produce. Six gardens sold 3,078 pounds of produce and 80 percent of garden produce was distributed to neighbors through churches, food pantries and garden volunteers.

A few gardens benefiting from this funding are the Miracle Garden located in Linden, Franklinton Gardens and the Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden.

In 2015, I sponsored legislation to fund a new initiative developed by Hands on Central Ohio for a food chat and text Service. This service provides Columbus residents living in three highneed neighborhoods the West Side, North Linden and the South Side with the ability to access emergency food using their mobile phones’ text messaging or online chat functions.

Since launching the service, both client access to emergency food and food system efficiency have improved.

The LFAP actions to increase food access are critical to provide healthier food options; however, individuals need to be equipped with the knowledge and resolve to make better decisions in order to improve their health. Food decisions made by adults impact the entire community and can have adverse health consequences for our children.

We need to eat more: • Nuts

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• Seafood rich in omega-3 fatty acids • Vegetables • Fruits • Whole grains • Polyunsaturated fats (such as soybean oil, corn oil, walnuts and flaxseed oil) ...and less: • Sodium • Processed meats • Sugar-sweetened beverages • Red meat (such as steak or pork chops) Research has shown that if people ate less salt and meat and consumed more nuts, fruits and vegetables, they could greatly lower their risk of heart disease.

We must do better for ourselves and our children.

According to a new study of kid’s heart-healthy habits by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, American children are losing their ideal cardiovascular health.

The study concluded that heart disease starts young. Artery clogging blockages can start as early as age three. Ultrasound examinations have shown children as young as 10 can have arteries that are already as clogged as those in some middle-aged people.

Now is the time to build generational wealth by focusing on our health.

The American Heart Association continues to stress that food is a major factor in preventing chronic disease including America’s primary cause of death.

Numerous studies have shown that Americans eat far too much meat, cheese, processed grains, sugar and salt.

While there are other important factors contributing to health disparities such as exercise, behavioral health and routine medical care, eating nutritious food is a key component to a long, healthy life. We as a community cannot continue to turn our backs on our health. Change that lemonade to lemon water!

For more information on the Local Food Action Plan please visit https://www.columbus.gov/ publichealth/programs/Local-Food-Action-Plan/

HEALTH

FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN SENIORS, IMPROVED OVERALL HEALTH STARTS WITH IMPROVED ACCESS TO ORAL HEALTH CARE

By Dr. Canise Y. Bean, DMD, MPH According to the U.S. Surgeon General, approximately onethird of Americans do not regularly seek care from a dentist.1 Minority populations, including African American seniors, are among those who can be most vulnerable to the lack of dental care.

The reasons that prevent these populations from seeking care are many, including inadequate transportation, lack of dental insurance, and others.

There is evidence that shows that good oral health is important for good overall health. As Ohio’s only state-supported public dental school, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry takes seriously its responsibility to ensure seniors and all Ohioans have a chance for good oral health by expanding access to care. This may, in turn, enable seniors to have a better quality of life in their “golden years.”

Services the college offers to expand access to care for seniors include: Public Dental Insurance Lack of insurance has a significant impact on the overall health of Americans, because a lack of finances often leads to a delay in seeking care.

This can be especially true for seniors who may no longer work and therefore do not have access to an employer-sponsored dental plan. According to the National Council on Aging, one out of every seven low-income seniors on Medicare rely on the dental benefits from Medicaid, as Medicare does not cover most routine dental care.2 As one of the largest Medicaid providers in the state, the College of Dentistry is an important resource for seniors, as well as for working adults

with fewer options than children, who otherwise cannot afford dental care.

Comprehensive Care Seniors often experience increased dental issues as a result of changes in the mouth as we get older. These changes may include gum disease (periodontitis), “dry mouth,” receding gums, and other oral health concerns. Once again, the College of Dentistry serves as an important resource to seniors. The college houses dentists who specialize in every major dental specialty, making it easier for seniors—who often have transportation challenges—to come to one location to receive care for all of their dental needs. In addition, the college is the site of the largest single-location dental school-based General Practice Residency program in the United States, and has the state-of-the art technology and specialized providers needed to provide the care required by each patient’s unique needs.

Care in the Community For seniors who cannot travel to Columbus, the College of Dentistry offers dental services through its outreach program, The OHIO (Oral Health Improvement through Outreach) Project.

Started at the college 15 years ago, the OHIO Project is committed to addressing the dental needs of Ohioans who live in underserved areas of the state. Through the OHIO Project, fourthyear College of Dentistry students, under the direct supervision of licensed dentists who are usually alumni of the college, spend 50 days working in community clinics, hospitals, and private practices that provide care in communities in need. The program benefits both the dental students who gain an increased awareness of the needs in underserved communities, and the patients who receive much-needed oral health care in established partner locations Interpreter Services Language can be a significant barrier to patients seeking dental and other health care services.

For seniors and other patients who do not speak English and need the services of an interpreter to communicate with their dental provider, the College of Dentistry offers professional interpreter services in more than 50 languages.

Recently, the college contracted with Martti (My Accessible Real-Time Trusted Interpreter) to expand interpreter services and make further inroads in removing the language barrier.

A Positive Outcome While the College of Dentistry’s most impactful contribution to the public is educating the next generation of dental professionals who can then ensure their patients—including seniors—receive good oral health care, the college continues to focus on additional ways to help seniors have access to the dental care they need to live the healthy lives they deserve.

US Department of Health and Human Services.

Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General-- Executive Summary . Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, 2000..

1

“Straight Talk for Seniors: Medicaid, by Howard Bedlin, Feb. 21, 2017, ncoa.org.

2

Dr. Canise Y. Bean is a clinical associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry. She is currently Director of Community Education and oversees the major outreach program for the College, the OHIO (Oral Health Improvement through Outreach) Project.

Dr. Bean earned her Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree from the University of Kentucky, completed a General Practice Residency at Metro Hospital, and earned a Master of Public Health degree from The Ohio State University.

OPIATES IN COLUMBUS

By Edward Bell On April 12, 2017 at 11:30 AM, a luncheon was held in the fashionable Buckeye Room of the Columbus Metropolitan Club. In attendance was a representative of the Columbus African American News Journal (CAANJ), and approximately 240 individuals who represented various organizations headquartered throughout Columbus, Ohio all coming together to discuss a growing epidemic not only in Ohio, but across the United States – Heroin/fentanyl overdoses and the deadly addition of Fentanyl.

Moderating the luncheon was Dr. Teresa C. Long, who became the first female Health Commissioner for Columbus in 2002. The distinguished panel consisted of: Dr. Anahi Ortiz, who has held the position of Franklin County Coroner since 2014.

Dr. Long also serves on the Franklin County Suicide Workgroup. David A. Royer joined ADAMH, the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County as the Chief Executive

Officer in May of 2000, and a board director for over 26 years, and Assistant Fire Chief James Davis, who in 2016 was promoted and taken command of the Training and Emergency Medical Services Bureau. Each of these panelists has witnessed first hand, the ravages this epidemic has caused our city, county, state and nation, and has joined together in the fight to find a way to rid our streets of this deadly chemical.

Most of the media attention in the current nationwide heroin/fentanyl epidemic has focused on the uptick in overdose deaths among suburban, white, middle-class users — many of whom turned to the drug after experimenting with prescription painkillers.

And it’s among whites where the most dramatic effect has been seen — a rise of more than 260 percent in the last five years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But the epidemic has also been seeping into communities of color, where heroin/fentanyl overdose death rates have more than doubled among African Americans,

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

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Latinos and Native Americans. We all watched in disbelief as news reports indicated music legend and superstar Prince had passed away, after an overdose of heroin/fentanyl.

People develop addictions for a variety of reasons, which makes it difficult to gather concrete data on what’s happening in each community, said Dr. Ortiz, “To a certain extent, these are hidden behaviors, and we only notice people at the end of their lives sometimes,” she said. “So we don’t always know all of the pathways that lead to this.”

CAANJ spoke to experts and community outreach workers around the country to try to understand the differences. While some have followed a similar trajectory as the white community, a closer look at the epidemic in some communities of color reveals a different story. And outreach workers in several cities say that while funds and attention have been directed to aid white opioid and heroin/fentanyl users in the suburbs, they are Continued on Page 18 The Columbus African American • May 2017

HEALTH

Continued from Page 17 still struggling to get the resources they need to support minorities who are dealing with the same addiction.

Many African-Americans and Latinos who turn to heroin/fentanyl had already been exposed to the drug through friends or family members, according to community workers. “We’re dealing with a very entrenched drug-using population.

You don’t need a gateway when mommy is going into the bedroom to shoot up,” said one Columbus volunteer.

Today, the high demand for heroin/fentanyl from suburban whites has increased the drug’s flow to the inner cities, so it’s more plentiful, and the costs are low, making it an easy option for someone looking to get high. In Cleveland, for example, a single opioid pill might cost as much as $20 or $30 on the black market, while a bag of heroin/ fentanyl sells for $10 or less.

The heroin/fentanyl epidemic in the AfricanAmerican community is distinct for another reason, in that our community is less likely to come to the drug through opioids. Multiple studies have shown that doctors are less likely to prescribe opioid painkillers to blacks than whites, even young children, for the same ailments. Even when

they do get a prescription, blacks in low-income neighborhoods can struggle to find pharmacies that have the opioids on hand to fill it.

Among Latinos, the increase in heroin/fentanyl overdose deaths has been less pronounced than in other communities. And because of the diverse nature of the population, which is spread across both rural and urban areas and has roots in multiple countries, it’s hard to point to one trend.

But studies suggest that substance abuse tends to be more prevalent in established immigrant communities — those who have been in the country for at least five years — rather than among newer arrivals. That’s in part because recent immigrants are less connected to social networks that might give them easier access to drugs, and haven’t yet succumbed to the economic and other stressors that many low-income people feel.

For those who do fall prey to addiction, many Latinos still struggle with the stigma of seeking treatment, and when they do, it’s challenging to find care that is language and culturally appropriate. Most often, they try to deal with the problem on their own.

The reaction to today’s epidemic in the white community has frustrated outreach workers who

have been working to change policies toward drug users for years with little success. There has been a change in rhetoric that has been almost unnerving in some ways. You hear folks from places that in the past would be opposed to our thinking saying things like, “We’re not going to arrest our way out of this,’ or supporting broad access to naloxone.”

A significant shift in approach has occurred in local criminal justice systems, where cities have begun experimenting with alternative programs that help users avoid the cycle of incarceration that can keep them from holding down a job, finding housing and becoming productive members of the community. That cycle has disproportionately swept in minorities, predominantly blacks and Latinos, who are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses. Currently, twothirds of people imprisoned for drug offenses are people of color.

While no plan of action or concrete ideas were thrown about, panelists and the audience were left with the solid understanding, this epidemic, unlike those in the past, has taken a life of its own and unless, we as a community in unity, learn to close the demographic divides, this epidemic will continue to cause mass hysteria, heartache, destruction and death.

START NOW TO PLAN YOUR RESTORATIVE “SUMMER CAMP” Dear Liz Queen: Q: I NEED A BREAK. I am so weary, just sick and tired of being sick and tired. I take care of everyone -- my parents, my kids, my grandkids, but who takes care of me? I love my friends, but they are so needy I end up caring for them emotionally just like I care for others physically.

The single ones want a good man. The married ones want to leave their men. My older friends just talk about their aches and pains. Everybody comes to me with their problems and no one ever asks how I’m doing. I have no personal life, and the drama at my workplace is unbearable too. I’m burnt out on volunteering as my only means of escape; that even feels like a job now. I want to take a vacation, but who has the time or money?

And even if I did, I don’t have anyone to go with me. I NEED A BREAK. A: You’ve already diagnosed your own problem.

YOU NEED A BREAK. You’ve even discovered the remedy, but with one correction I strongly encourage you to consider. You don’t just WANT to take a vacation. You NEED to take a vacation.

What a “break” really symbolizes is a chance for your mind, body, and/or spirit to restore; to save yourself from whatever situation threatens to interrupt the important balance between these mind/body/spirit connections that must happen in order for human beings to continue being “humans being.” This balance is literally needed to lengthen our lives and improve the quality of the living we still have the privilege of looking forward to. A “break” is a necessity, not a luxury.

You’re correct. The most extreme and satisfying way to accomplish the restoration you need is to take a relaxing, lengthy, dream vacation. But the barriers you mention are often very real: finances, time, lack of travel companions. There’s a chance that all of these issues can be addressed in the long run with the proper planning: • Create a budget that may require sacrificing small expenses, which could eventually accumulate the dollars needed for a modest vacation nest egg.

• Manage the time issue simply by managing your time. That sounds redundant, but it means you have to do it and not just say it -- say “no” to what others need in order to say “yes” to what you need. This doesn’t have to mean you’re

neglecting your responsibilities, it just means using your multi-tasking skills to create ways to make alternative arrangements for those responsibilities you absolutely can’t avoid (in addition to relinquishing those duties that truly don’t have to be your responsibility).

• As for travel companions, search for group tours or use your own network to learn if there’s someone who’s searching for a vacation buddy as well.

But while you’re researching and planning these long-term options, what can you do in the meantime to give yourself the break you need and deserve?

Come on. Let’s be creative. Exercising your brain cells by using them in a different way could be a healthy break from your normal routine in itself. Are you a parent or know someone who has minor children? If so, you know their lives include breaks they don’t necessarily ask for, but are thrust on them nonetheless by the calendars of their children’s school districts. Right now, families are facing a 3-to-4 month Summer Break, and they have no choice but to structure the type of respite for their children that we insist on denying for ourselves.

So how’s this for an idea? Take a chapter from the playbook of a parent that you are or know, and plan a surrogate Summer Camp-like experience for yourself.

Such a silly idea that can be so satisfying! Apply the type of stringent requirements you would look for in a Summer Camp for someone for whom you were or are responsible (you ARE responsible for your own well-being, aren’t you?): The Summer Camp-like experience has to help you gain new skills or refine those you already have. What have you always wanted to learn how to do? What do you do naturally that you’d like to refine? What accomplishment have you envied seeing someone else boast about on social media that you’ve convinced yourself you could never do? Play a musical instrument? Learn a craft?

Become a collector? Be a better cook? Visit museums or non-routine places of interest? If you have no idea, this is a good time to think of one.

If you have a sense of what you’d like to do, go for it.

Take advantage of this era of the Internet. Enter

The Columbus African American •News May 2017 Journal • February 2015

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search terms that describe your ideal Summer Camp-like experience. You’ll find lists of options ranging from local fee-charging service providers (shop them to decide on the best price and quality,) to community continuing education courses, to totally online classes. If you’re over a certain age, check the course offerings of a university that has a class you’d like to take and find out if they offer significantly lower tuition prices for seniors taking a for-credit course on a non-credit basis. Or surf your cable provider’s line-up of how-to networks and shows. You can also go to the online app store on your mobile phone and search for apps you can download and carry with you to make your personal Summer Camp experience portable.

Admit it. The ideas you’ve just read so far have sent your mind scurrying into overdrive if you’re a true Type A, gotta-get-it-done-and-do-it-right kind of personality. If you’re already talking yourself out of your Summer Camp idea by worrying about whether it will end up just adding more to your to-do list, consider making your personalized Summer Camp one that’s lethargic (that sounds more professional that “lazy,” doesn’t it?) in that it involves doing close to nothing.

STOP IT. If you’re on the verge of convincing yourself that the guilt of this type of downtime would be more stressful than the most hectic of crunch times, reach a compromise. Plan a Summer Camp that comes close to, but stops just short of, doing nothing. When was the last time you simply read a long book? Or went to the library every other evening and caught up on their collection of back issues of a magazine you love, but cancelled your subscription since you never took the time to read the pile you stacked up when it came in the mail?

If your hypothetical Summer Camp involves work, do it in a relaxing way. Relaxing yard work is not expensive, extensive landscaping, but going to a farmer’s market, buying potted plants or seeds, and creating a small (not a large) garden of flowers or vegetables you can nurture as it nurtures you. Take pictures to display in your office to keep it in your mind and encourage compliments from others. Even cutting your own grass instead of paying someone can be a shortterm relief if you re-frame the task in your mind as allowing you to put dollars aside for the ultimate vacation, while giving you some outdoors alone time for exercise and uninterrupted reflection.

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TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

COVER STORY

Advancing Cultural Competence in the State of Ohio

By Ray Miller, MPA What lead you to become involved in diversity-related work?

I have always been passionate about the development of policies and programs that combat the historical exclusion and exploitation of diverse communities. As an African American woman, I have experienced challenges that were directly related to my cultural background. My family has also been impacted, having lived in several small towns in the South. I was reminded almost daily that I was different than my classmates and neighbors. You understand later not to become angry at ignorance. I learned at an early age to stand firm in who I was but over the years I realized this was not always the case for others. The natural response to resist is how one to adapt and suppress themselves. I knew I wanted my life’s work to encourage others to feel the same freedom. I did not know it at the time, but this was the beginning of my purpose.

I have been tremendously blessed to have been tutored by truly selfless and inspiring leaders in Ohio. The recurring theme was always to make no apologies for doing what is right and necessary. They also refused to coddle me; they would not wade in the water with me because they knew I could swim. I often felt my age would be a barrier to effective messaging and I hear their words if ever I am in doubt. Politics was an avenue for me to influence policy that effects my community on a larger scale. Years of examining the racial and ethnic demographics of Ohio politics only reinforced the need for increased diversity. Far too often we become jaded and exclude ourselves from the very systems we hope to change. I knew I would be required to pay it forward if I hoped to see such change.

Simone and Dr. Jerry Johson, 2016 MACC conference keynote speaker

Are there any major barriers to implementing cultural competence?

What is the goal and mission of MACC? MACC has been committed to the implementation of culturally and linguistically competent services in the health and behavioral health field since its inception 14 years ago. Diversity within a system without the inclusion of cultural competence is futile. Diversity is merely a first step. There is a direct link between a lack of cultural knowledge and awareness among health providers, and disparate outcomes in diverse communities. A lack of culturally appropriate behavior during a doctor’s visit can have a tremendous ripple effects. Many diverse communities depend on word of mouth when it comes to the health care system. This is the result of years of mistreatment and mistrust.

The goal of MACC is to ensure providers and systems are operating in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner. The long-term goal of this work is to reduce and ultimately eliminate the health disparities that are disproportionately impacting

Simone at Northeast Ohio Black Helath Coalition conference diverse communities. We continue to see misdiagnosis of severe psychotic disorders among African American men; while their Caucasian counterparts receive mild anxiety diagnosis when presented with the same symptoms. African American babies in Ohio die before their first birthday at a much faster rate than almost every state in the nation, and often at a rate worse than some developing nations. These outcomes are the result of years of neglect and MACC is committed to holding the health system accountable for their improvement.

The May 2017 The Columbus Columbus African African American American •News Journal • February 2015

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I often hear from providers, “I treat everyone the same”. This is not the case. As human beings, we all hold some level of bias and it is often implicit. Our cultural backgrounds cause us to develop preferences for skin tone, eye color, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation and others. We are not innately drawn to diversity, rather it is a notion that we acknowledge as socially beneficial.

Our evidenced-based curriculum is designed to provide participants with effective tools to ensure competency within their profession, but this work must begin with self. Exploring the impact of your own cultural nuances is critically important to improved interactions with patients and clients.

Unfortunately, those with the most resistance are often providers with the highest levels of education and training. Cultural competence has no end, it is a lifelong process. This can often be intimidating as it seems unattainable. My goal is to encourage those around me to practice empathy. We cannot continue to combat intolerance with intolerance.

COVER STORY

Previous Enlightened Kalidoscope Award Dr. Arthur James posed with 2017 winner Brent Walter, Director of Community Marketing for CareSource

Simone speaking at the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Gamma Zeta Zeta Chapter Breaking the Blues Wellness Fair

Continued from Page 20 Do you believe there is an increased need for cultural competence given recent political rhetoric and police involved incidences?

These events have made it more evident than ever that a lack of understanding and tolerance for one another can have reverberating consequences across our nation. The silver lining is that it has provided us with an undeniable opportunity for productive dialogue.

Our state and nation are rapidly diversifying, leading to nervousness among those more comfortable with a homogeneous society. So often the underlying cause of hate is fear. We must ask ourselves “why?”.

Senator Charleta B. Tavares, Simone Crawley and Tracee Black-Fall of Tova’s N.E.S.T. at the Northeast Ohio Black Helath Coalition conference

James Baldwin once wrote “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain”. So many communities are laden with unresolved trauma spanning generations. It is this trauma that manifests in our daily interactions.

Cultural competence teaches us to be considerate of these factors among one another and prevent them from impeding our progress.

What are your hopes for the future?

I will continue to advocate on behalf of MACC for inclusive policies at all levels. This work is certainly not limited to the health and behavioral health field, it translates across industries. It is evident that our teachers and police officers could also benefit from additional diversity education as well. I am also committed to developing mandates for providers to receive annual cultural competence training as a part of their continuing education.

As a millennial, I encourage young people to be empowered and find your voice. In his parting words, President Obama told us to grab a clipboard, get signatures, and run for office. We have a tremendous opportunity, as well as a responsibility to generations after us, to take our rightful place in all industries. If there is not a seat at the table, bring your own chair.

Nothing About Us Without Us!

Simone speaking at the 2nd Annual Cleveland Consent Decree Local Conversation

21

The Columbus African American • May 2017

Celebrate Our Graduates!

FCCS’s annual graduation party for agency youth is Wednesday, May 24. This lively event celebrates our grads’ amazing achievements and lets them know we are proud of them!

To add to the festivities,

For more informa1on and 1ckets, please call 614-­‐218-­‐3131 or 614-­‐563-­‐3032.

Weavers of Nigeria

donated door prizes are needed!

presents

A Taste of Nigeria

Cash, gift cards, or gift baskets from individuals or groups are greatly appreciated: teen-friendly stuff like gift cards for fast food or places like Target, Wal-Mart, movie theaters, Easton, etc.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Mar1n Luther King Performing & Cultural Arts Complex, Columbus, Ohio

To arrange a donation, please contact Cynthia Greenleaf at 614-341-6162 or email clgreenl@fccs.us * DONATION DEADLINE IS MONDAY, MAY 15 * The Columbus African American •News May 2017 Journal • February 2015

weaversofnigeriawon.org

FOOD, MUSIC, GAMES, FASHION SHOW, & MUCH MORE!

22

DIVERSITY

REFLECTIONS ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY

By William McCoy, MPA Love thy neighbor as thyself.

This Biblical admonition is the core principle underlying the philosophy and practice of cultural diversity, cultural competency, and cultural intelligence. Respect, tolerance, and acceptance are key ingredients in showing love toward other people. Awareness, understanding, and appreciation of differences are also key elements in this equation.

The aim of many cultural diversity celebratory and training programs is to raise awareness of, promote understanding about, and foster positive relations between different racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Celebratory events often use food, dance, and the spoken word to expose participants to different cultures. Some cultural diversity trainings attempt to educate and encourage dialogue between participants on a deeper intellectual and emotional level.

The fact is: America has always been diverse.

When Europeans arrived, they were greeted by an indigenous population of Native Americans composed of numerous tribes and lineages.

Native Americans lived in most parts of the country. Mexicans could be found in vast portions of the Southwest and West. Africans were introduced into the mix through chattel slavery.

Asians, initially, settled on the West Coast.

Yes, America has always been diverse. What has changed, over time, is the way these groups interact with each other. For most of her history, the United States was shaped by White people, who assumed a dominant position and excluded people of color from sharing in the American Dream. White Supremacy and White privilege (e.g. Manifest Destiny) were the calling cards of those who created and controlled society’s economic, social, and political institutions and interactions. Individual, collective, and institutional racism have fueled White America’s disdain, dislike, and oppression of people of color through the centuries.

Jim Wallis’ book, entitled America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America (2016), states, “Ironically and tragically, American diversity began with acts of violent racial oppression that I am calling ‘America’s original sin’- the theft of land from Indigenous people who were either killed or removed and the enslavement of millions of Africans who became America’s greatest economic resourcein building a new nation. The theft of land and the violent exploitation of labor were embedded in America’s origins.”

Unfortunately, most cultural diversity interventions fail to change individual, organizational, or institutional attitudes and behaviors. Many people lack the courage to talk about America’s true (racial) history, oppression, and the lingering manifestations and effects of racism in mixed racial company. Often times, people get upset or defensive when discussing chattel slavery, Jim Crow, lynching, and contemporary racism.

Relatively few people want to talk about the Native American experience of suffering through broken treaties and promises, being forced Westward on the Trail of Tears, and resettlement on reservations.

The same can be said about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II or the forced displacement of Mexicans in the Southwest.

These already difficult conversations are made even harder when participants begin to assign responsibility or blame.

So, what can or should be done to dismantle or change racist attitudes, behaviors, and institutions?

People who are addicted to alcohol and other drugs are told the first step toward recovery is to admit there is a problem. Sadly, much of White America (and some Black Americans) cannot or will not admit that racism is a problem. Perhaps, there is no better illustration of this than “the fact that the delegation from the United States walked out of the United Nations World Conference Against Racism in August of 2001, a conference that declared American chattel slavery as a ‘crime against humanity,’ (which) only served to highlight America’s refusal to acknowledge this period in her own past,” (DeGruy-Leary, 2005).

In order to have its “Original Sin” blotted out, the Holy Bible (Acts 3:19) says (America) must repent. The Web Dictionary defines “repent” or the act of repentance as to “feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing or sin.” In short, a heartfelt apology and request for forgiveness from individuals and the collective is in order. This acknowledgement of and apology for wrongdoing must be backed by a real effort 23

to right the wrongs that have been and continue to be committed against people of color.

In conclusion, cultural diversity, cultural competency, and cultural intelligence are worthwhile goals. An even loftier goal is to practice love for one another- as evidenced by acceptance, inclusion, and power-sharing. To do so, there must be: (1) an admission that racism has been and remains a problem; (2) a sincere repentance from and apology for racism and its related injuries and injustices; and (3) a genuine effort to change things for the better.

In addition, we must accept the reality that information alone does not change attitudes or behaviors. Instead, high-impact interventions, like the Violence Interruption Experience, are needed to help change people’s hearts and minds.

In short, we must learn how to love one another.

William McCoy is founder and principal consultant of The McCoy Company- a worldclass personal services consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, economic development, and training. The McCoy Company helps clients articulate and achieve their visions, solve problems, and capitalize on their opportunities. Mr. McCoy serves all levels of government, foundations, nonprofits, and private enterprise. He also works on issues related to race, gender, power dynamics, and other topics.

Mr. McCoy holds BA and MPA degrees, has authored over 70 publications, and is profiled in Who’s Who in the World. William McCoy can be reached at (614) 785-8497 or via e-mail at wmccoy2@themccoycompany.com.

TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

DIVERSITY

DIVERSITY IN YOUR NETWORK RELATIONSHIPS

By Cecil Jones, MBA H o w D i v e r s e i s Yo u r Network?

Have you looked at your set of advocates, friends, business associates and others in your inner circle, lately?

When you develop new relationships (friends, business relationships, etc.) are you always looking for those ‘powerful’ people with a lot of financial resources? While having relationships with powerful people in high places is great, do you have a diverse network?

Take a look at your network. Do almost all of the people in your network alike? If you are a nurse, is your network mostly nurses? If you are a bus driver are most of your friends and network bus drivers? Evaluate the make-up of your network.

If most of the people in your inner circle and your associates think alike, you likely need to diversity your network. Consider getting out of your comfort zone and meet some new people to add to your network.

Think about the current presidential administration. One of their major challenges is that almost all of them are very wealthy, they think the same way, they are male, they are largely senior citizens and they are of one culture. Is it very likely that many of them would really understand and work on behalf of people outside of that profile? One of the reasons for this blindness is because they do not have a diverse network to give them positive, constructive feedback.

Diversify your network by skill set There are benefits to including diverse people in your network. For example, consider a teacher who knows a lot about teaching Language Arts and is a homeowner but does not know their way around a hammer. The teacher may want to

The Columbus African American • May 2017

include someone who knows a lot about doing home repairs in their network. Imagine, that is it 8pm on a Friday evening and an emergency home repair situation occurs. It is great to have in one’s network someone to call to help assess the situation.

Periodically review your network

Whether it is during the summer, at the end of the year during the holidays or some other time – periodically review your network. This will help you expand our network in ways that are beneficially to you and to your network. It also A Black person that works in technology might reminds you to reach out to those great and belong to a couple of specific technology valuable advocates, friends and associates that networking groups, let’s say web development you have not touched bases with for a while. and Microsoft products. The make-up of those two groups may be 95% (sometime more) not Diversity is a good thing – especially in your from the African-American community. That networks! person might consider also belonging to a broader base technology group of African-Americans. The purpose of this column is to provide useful (Email me at admin@accelerationservices. information and knowledge that you can use, net; I will get you in touch with some groups). today. If you have a technology question (how One major benefit includes being in a broader to get something done, what business, process base group and having the ability to get answers or software solution might be available for to technology questions surrounding multiple your situation, etc.), please email the question platforms, not just web development or Microsoft or comment to the email address Admin@ products. Another major benefit is that it allows Accelerationservices.net for a quick response. you to both share knowledge with older and younger generations in the Black community. admin@accelerationservices.net In addition, the Black technology groups almost always have local programs (teaching www.accelerationservices.net high schoolers to code, etc.) from which our community can benefit.

Having managed technology, communications and business functionality for multiple Fortune Diversify your network by age 100 companies, Cecil is a technology and management leader. He teaches technology, Please be sure to include younger people, people business and communications courses. He is a your age and people older than you in your past president of many organizations including network. This will help provide you with insights BDPA (Technology group), and Columbus and views that will help you not be blindsided. Association of Black Journalists. He serves on That great idea for that product, service, project the Executive Committee of boards including or program that you are developing will be even Chairman of IMPACT Community Action better when have the benefit of viewing it from the Agency. www.AccelerationServices.net vantage point of someone in a different age group.

Cecil Jones MBA, ABD, PMP, CCP, SCPM, FLMI, Lean Professional 24

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

DIVERSITY

STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY

By The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau WASH I N G TO N , D .C . – T he C onsume r Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today released a report summarizing strategies for promoting diversity and inclusion used by mortgage industry participants. It highlights the business case for diversity along with current approaches and practices used in the mortgage industry, such as establishing buy-in from top leadership, integrating principles of inclusion in recruiting and hiring, and the importance of data in assessing the impact of diversity on keeping organizations competitive. The report is the result of the CFPB’s collaboration with the financial services industry to raise awareness of the importance of strengthening diversity and inclusion within organizations.

“The Consumer Bureau’s mission is to protect all consumers across the diverse American marketplace, just as financial institutions seek to serve them with helpful products and services,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “The insights in this report from our roundtable with mortgage lenders help to show the advantages of integrating diversity and inclusion programs in workplaces throughout the financial services industry.”

The CFPB’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) convened an industry roundtable meeting in collaboration with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), which has shown notable leadership on these issues, and today’s report is a readout of that meeting.

The roundtable convened representatives from the mortgage industry, including from larger and smaller banks, as well as some nonbank financial companies. Some participants were the primary executive leaders of their companies and others led units such as mortgage banking, neighborhood lending, or human resources.

The roundtable also included OMWI staff from other federal agencies, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve, and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Congress required the creation of an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at the following agencies: Treasury, FDIC, FHFA, OCC, National Credit Union Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, CFPB, Federal Reserve Board, and each Federal Reserve Bank. Each of the OMWI directors is charged with developing standards for the diversity of the agency workforce, increasing diversity in agency programs and contracts, and assessing diversity policies and practices of entities regulated by the agency.

The report highlights issues raised by the roundtable participants, including current approaches, and underscores the need to develop a strong business case for diversity and inclusion.

The speakers stressed how their businesses were being affected by the changing demographics

of their customer base. They noted that a diverse and inclusive workforce was especially important to help them attract and retain the talent and perspective they need to solve new and complex problems, create innovative solutions, and improve business outcomes in face of this growing challenge. The report discusses strategies and practices on topics including: • The business case for diversity and inclusion: The roundtable participants shared that embracing diversity and inclusion made business sense for their organizations. Participants that analyzed how diversity and inclusion can strengthen organizations found that it improved overall performance and leads to a more positive and productive workplace.

• The importance of leadership buy-in and accountability: A strong theme was the importance of the “tone from the top” of the organization, without which many speakers said it is virtually impossible to sustain a successful diversity program. Strong leadership on diversity and inclusion issues aligned organizations to build in diversity and inclusion as fundamental principles.

• Recruiting, hiring, inclusion, retention, advancement, and engagement: Participants shared that principles of inclusion are vital in developing and sustaining a diverse workforce over time. Organizations noted that they sought to boost retention levels and advancement prospects of people with different backgrounds and viewpoints. Another goal reported by participants is to make sure that discussions and

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decisions within the organization reflect the more robust analysis and broader understanding that can result from multiple viewpoints.

• Broadening the customer base with new business products: Participants explained that a more diverse workforce fosters greater understanding of the particular needs and situations of a more diverse customer base, including tailoring products to the needs of different consumers. Participants saw this as a key approach to attracting and satisfying a broader base of customers.

• The importance of data: Data collection and analysis play an integral role in supporting many of the participating organizations’ business cases for diversity. Some participants noted that understanding the demographics of an organization’s workforce is key to ensuring that it reflects the available talent pools and remains competitive and effective.

The CFPB’s OMWI Report on Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Mortgages Industry is available at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/ documents/201704_cfpb_OMWI-RegulatedEntities-External-Report.PDF The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.

The Columbus African American • May 2017

SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH CELEBRATES 78TH ANNUAL WOMEN’S DAY WOMEN AT THE WELL -REFRESH, REVIVE & RENEW FROM JOHN 4:14.

The celebration will include the following public activities:

Sweet Hour of Prayer on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 11:00 and at 6:00 pm.

Sunday morning worship service will begin at 10:45 am Sunday, May 20, 2017 featuring speaker Minister Floria Washington, First Lady of Second Baptist Church All listed events are free, open to the public, and, will be held at the church located at 186 N. 17th Street Columbus, OH 43203.

For more information visit www.secondbaptistcolumbus.com and find us on Facebook at Second Baptist Church of Columbus.

Stepping Out and Stepping Up in Columbus You’re invited to “Step Out” with AARP Ohio on Thursday, May 18th from 6:00 p.m. -9:00 p.m. at the Franklin Park Conservatory Wells Barn.

You’ll enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres and refreshing beverages while learning about how you can “Step Up” and make a positive impact in your community as an AARP Ohio Volunteer.

AARP helps people turn their goals and dreams into Real Possibilities, strengthens communities, and fights for the issues that matter most to families. If you’re interested in having fun and making a difference, join us for this wonderful evening of fun, information, and discovery at one of Columbus’s most beloved settings.

Stepping Out and Stepping Up – Thursday, May 18, 2017: The Wells Barn Franklin Park Conservatory 1773 E. Broad Street Columbus, OH 43215 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

RSVP by May 16 by registering online or calling toll-free 1-877-926-8300.

The Columbus African American • May 2017

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The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

By Ray Miller, MPA Live and Let Live - Diversity, Conflict and Community in an Integrated Neighborhood

Race and Social Change - A Quest, A Study, A Call to Action

By Max Klau

By Evelyn M. Perry

A powerful study that illuminates our nation’s collective civic fault lines. Recent events have turned the spotlight on the issue of race in modern America, and the current cultural climate calls out for more research, education, dialogue, and understanding. This book focuses on a provocative social science experiment with the potential to address these needs.

Through an analysis grounded in the perspectives of developmental psychology, adaptive leadership and complex systems theory, the inquirty at the heart of this book illuminates dynamics of race and social change in suprising and important ways. At a moment when our nation is once again bitterly divided around matters at the heart of American civic life, this book seeks to push our collective journey forward with insights that promise to promote understanding and healing.

“We are in a bind,” writes Evelyn M. Perry. While conventional wisdom asserts that residential racil and economic integration holds great promise for reducing inequality in the United States, Americans are demonstrably not very good at living with difference. Perry’s analysis of the multiethnic, mixed-income Milwaukee community of Riverwest, where residents maintain relative stability without insisting on conformity, advances our understanding of why and how neighborhoods matter. In response to the myriad urban quantitative assessments, Perry examines the impact of neighborhood diversity using more than three years of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews. Perry challenges researchers’ assumptions about what “good” communities look like and what well-regulated communities want.

Black People - Listening to Hope

The New Negro - Voices of the Harlem Renaissance

By Alain Locke

By Lekan Olaolu In this season of Black Lives Matter, controversial officer-involved shootings, and simmering racial tension, one is compelled to consider the present events thoroughly and probably find solutions. In considering events, one question becomes unavoidable: why has the black man always been subject to all kinds of brutality? Trying to answer this question leads one to another question; is there something wrong with the black man? Here is an attempt to answer these questions with glances into the past, a survey of the present, and a hopeful proposal for the future. This answer is driven by personal experiences. It covers not only African Americans but all of the black race and addresses follow-up questions like: What is the role of God? What is the effect of racism and other external factors? And, more importantly, where do we go from here?

Alain Locke delves into the Harlem Renaissance’s history and its 1920’s adoption of the Negro identity as an empowered stance for community betterment against systematic oppression.

The book is a holistic collection of literary works, spanning from poetry to nonfiction essays, from the intellectual leaders of the African American community including WEB Debois, Countee Cullen and Zora Neale Hurston.

Admiral Edgie Gordon

By Edna F. Thomas, PhD

Slavery’s Capitalism - A New History of American Economic Development Editors Sven Beckert & Seth Rockman

Admiral Edgie Gordon is an AfricanAmerican eight-year-old girl who learns about segregation through her adventures and day to day life experiences.

Admiral Edgie is part of a bigger picture which Dr. Thomas will share about in future stories.

Often the economic foundation of the United States is discussed with slavery mentioned as an afterthought. In Slavery’s Capitalism, editors Beckert & Rockman collected the works of sixteen scholars to discuss the market forces promoting the practice of slavery between the Revolutionary War and Civil War. These papers help explain the central role slavery played in the Americas with today’s racial divisions in mind. Berkert & Rockman’s book is a brave attempt to rewrite the telling of history, not from a place of majority power, but from a place of true social and economic realities affecting the

majority of people.

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The Columbus African American • May 2017

EMPLOYMENT JOB OPPORTUNITIES PEOPLE-OF-COLOR OFTEN DON’T FILL

By Michael Watkins & Howard Williams Employment trends and times have changed and the people-of-color community, especially the African-American segment, has unfortunately not kept up. But it is not too late to be in the know on how to get into both a great and financially prosperous career.

Many people-of-color have all but abandoned the skilled trades as a viable field for career employment. Some parents have even let their children down by not recommending these strong professions as an option to either the military or college oriented careers. To make matters worse, many people in middle and lower economic communities additionally believes it does not take much skill to repair, remodel or rehab property and that anybody with limited knowledge and a few tools can can take care of most jobs. Nothing could be further from the truth or more costly.

Secure a non-licensed handyman to fix something in your house and you’re bound to be out of a lot of additional money -- the money needed to fix any additional damage and the money to complete the job up to current standards. The old axiom rings true when hiring out help for jobs around a property: “You’ll get what you pay for!”

Today the knowledge of building codes are required in all skilled trades which includes: carpentry, electrical, home improvement, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning (HVAC). It takes some initial classroom training, on the job training and then an apprenticeship in these fields to become properly credentialed to do a professional and appropriate job.

For those that are not college bound, there are very few opportunities outside of the military that are projected to be in demand in the future. Part of the reason for this is that current prognosticators really can’t predict the jobs of the future. Also there are fewer people-of-color in many fields today that have the experience and the passion to pass on that valuable knowledge they have acquired over many years onto their children. The African American trades professional can no longer allow that knowledge to escape from within our community.

When parents limit a child’s choices for success, they limit the child’s chance at prosperity. In affect, it is like asking some of our children to go find a job with one arm tied behind their back.

The bottom-line is this, if one does not have the requisite skill for a particular job, how does he/ she expect to get hired? However, it is always easy to highlight a problem without providing a solution. There are three entities in Columbus, Ohio that have been quietly working behind the scenes to alleviate this problem. How do parents ensure that their children are employable in decent professions in the future? Parents should demand that their children study hard in school.

The Columbus African American • May 2017

knowledge required today includes not only the basic knowledge of the trade, it also requires the basic knowledge of building codes. Not only have indoor environmental concerns come into play, fire retardant remodeling construction is necessary today. This is the type of knowledge that Willco Services wants to pass onto young people in the community. To hire out or or review the types of remodeling work Willco Services has completed, from kitchen remodels to bathroom remodels to entire room improvements visit their website as listed above.

If school does not work out, the child should learn either a service skill or trade so that they can earn a living.

Three companies locally are working to provide jobs in the community, to pass the knowledge of the skilled trades to the next generation and to introduced provide quality craftsmanship for a vast array of home repair needs. The trifecta includes Watt1 Electrical System LLC, Willco Services and the National Skilled Trade Network (NSTN).

Willco Services LLC., www.willcoservicesllc. com Willco Services LLC is a Licensed-BondedInsured Home Improvement and Commercial General Contracting Company. It performs complete rehabs and remodels that have changed tremendously over the years. The skills and 28

Wa t t 1 E l e c t r i c a l S y s t e m s L L C . , w w w. watt1electrical.com According to the Bureau of Labor of Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17. The number of electrician jobs is projected to increase by 14% from 2014-2024, which is faster than average for all occupations. As homes and businesses require more wiring, electricians will be needed to install the necessary components.

This was the vision Michael Watkins of Watt1 ELECTRICAL, LLC seen coming when he started his business back in 2000. I’ve always known from high school on, that having a skilled trade would be an asset to have. “(Thanks Mom!) Not only are electricians able to find employment anywhere in the country, but the skilled trades cannot be shipped off shore.

Continued on Page 29

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

EMPLOYMENT

power is generated by home owners who have solar panels installed on their roofs to provide power to their homes. This form of solar power is increasing in popularity. Residential usually must be supplemented by traditional electricity from the power grid to provide additional electricity when the solar panel cannot meet energy needs, such as when it is nighttime or extremely cold.

Expanding into this field will require the workforce to be successful. That’s where the National Skilled Trades Network (NSTN ) comes into play. The NSTN is a non-profit model for business development and a support system as a business incubator focused on job training, career growth and community re-development to better stabilize neighborhoods through our collective expertise.

Continued from Page 28 Today the electrical industry is facing new challenges: generation transition, diverse technology markets, sophisticated customers and competitors, economical and governmental challenges. The electrical contractor needs to become more sophisticated and organized than before to meet these challenges. That’s why Mr. Watkins decided to expand his knowledge in a new market like Solar (Photovoltaic’s).

Mr. Watkins is now a NABCEP Certified PV Installation & PV Technical Sales Professional.

NABCEP is the most highly respected and well established national certification organization for renewable energy professionals. Designation as a NABCEP PV Installation Professionals are widely recognized to be the most important and certifications of its kind in the solar industry.

Solar energy includes using the energy to heat water, heat and air conditioning homes and commercial buildings and to power street lights.

Since sunlight or solar power is plentiful it is a alternative way of generating electricity. It can be used for such purposes as is readily available almost everywhere and doesn’t require fuel or a connection to a power grid (an interconnected

network used to deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers). Solar power is particularly useful for supplying power to remote areas and some portable devices. Solar power is used to generate large amounts of power on a utility scale and to supply both individual residence and businesses with electricity. Residential solar 29

National Skilled Trades Network ( NSTN ), www.nstnetwork.org The National Skilled Trades Network started as the Columbus Skilled Trades Network in 2002. It was founded By Michael Watkins of Watt1 Electrical Systems, Robert Price of RMD Price Plumbing and Howard Williams of Willco Services LLC Home Improvements.

We began networking with each other to better serve our clients. As time went on our clients would look to us to help them find other craftsmen that understood professionalism and high quality work. We began to look for other companies that understood professionalism and quality work were the keys to success. By networking together we could support each other and serve our clients better. As other professional trades companies or businesses joined us, our client referrals began to increase. We would support each other by referring clients to each other. We developed a set of standards that each company would have to adhere by.

Some companies began to see the possibility for growth, through target marketing and professional standards. However we began to find out that there was the lack of a skilled workforce that our companies could rely upon to maintain our standards of quality, so growth become a challenge. The National Skilled Trades Network is a non-profit organization that would begin to address the problem of the lack of skilled tradesmen and craftsmen in the people-of-color and specifically, within the African American community.

TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

KING ARTS COMPLEX CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY Theme: Connecting Community through the Arts for Three Decades

We are gearing up to celebrate THREE AMAZING DECADES of African American art and culture in Columbus during The King Arts Complex 30th Anniversary Gala. This party with a purpose will be held for the first time at Hilton Columbus Downtown, a longtime supporter of King Arts that is home to over 230 original works created by area artists including legends Kojo Kamau and Aminah Robinson.

“The King Arts Complex was the anchor for the revitalization of the Bronzeville area of Columbus, Ohio thirty years ago, Today, the area is known as the King-Lincoln District.

The district has become a destination for visitors from around the world and this is just the beginning! We are delighted to celebrate three decades of The King Arts Complex. Where dreams come alive!”

-Demetries J. Neely, Executive Director

The event will begin with a VIP dinner and program from 7 - 8:30 p.m. where we will recognize and honor the late Jerry Hammond, Nationwide, and L Brands-whose courageous

and visionary leadership made The Complex’s opening possible. Guests are encouraged to stay for the Gala lasting until 1 a.m., featuring high-energy entertainment from Dru Hill, hors d’oeuvre stations, cash bars, live auction with special “Fund a Need” benefit for King Arts summer campers, an after-party with DJ Spinderella of Salt-N-Pepa and more.

“I grew up going to Frank’s barbershop on Mt. Vernon Avenue and remember vividly when the King Arts Complex became a reality. To have the opportunity to co-chair this year’s annual gala with my wife Robyn, Brian who I have known literally my entire life and his wife Dominique for the 30th year is truly an honor and very humbling. Looking forward to seeing so many come out for a first class event! “ -Ron Ransom, Honorary Co-Chair

“My wife Dominique and I grew up on the near east side in the Woodland Park area, as a teenager she took an African American dance class at the KAC and most recently she volunteered her time conducting her Dream Big Workshop during the youth summer camp. I have attended many events and galas, was a key member of the team that facilitated the restoration and presentation of the E.E. Ward murals painted

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by Aminah Robinson, on permanent display in the gallery hallway. The King Arts Complex has been a part of our lives for 30 years. To be co-chairs for the 30th Anniversary Gala with Robyn and Ron Ransom is a true honor that we will never forget.”

-Brian Brooks, Honorary Co-Chair

We invite you to join us for the celebration that evening, but also ask that you take a moment to review the attached sponsor information via the link below to learn how you and your company can show your appreciation for 30 years of top-notch arts and cultural programming from The King Arts Complex. Not only will you receive generous recognition for your sponsorship, but your contribution will help The Complex to fulfill its mission of connecting community through the arts..

Please join presenting sponsor Nationwide as we celebrate 30 years of The King Arts Complex and honor those who gave the organization its start.

For more information or to purchase tickets by phone, please contact the King Arts Complex 614-645-5464 (KING) or log on to www. thekingartscomplex.com

POLITICS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

OHIO OPERATIONS BUDGET: HOUSE MODIFIES GOVERNOR’S PROPOSAL

By Senator Charleta B. Tavares The Ohio House of Representatives is scheduled to pass the 2-year Operating Budget, House Bill 49 sponsored by Representative Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell) the chair of the House Finance Committee the week of May 1st. The Operating Budget provides funding and policy changes for all of the state departments, boards and commissions, primary, secondary and higher education for Fiscal Years 2018-2019. The House Finance Committee is made up of thirty-two members (32) out of ninety-nine members in the Ohio House and is the most important committee in the House of Representatives. The committee has two African American legislators, Reps. Alicia Reece (D-Cinc.) and Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron).

House Bill 49 is scheduled to be voted out of the House Finance Committee on Tuesday, May 2nd.

The bill will be on the floor for passage by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 3rd. The Ohio Senate Finance Committee and subcommittees on Health and Medicaid, Higher Education, General Government and Primary and Secondary Education are currently conducting Informal Hearings on the bill while awaiting the passage in the House of Representatives. The House Finance and Senate Finance Committees are streamed live and the hearings that are videotaped are archived for future viewing. This is important for our community residents to see and hear what their legislators are saying and doing on their behalf as well as, allow the public to weigh in on issues that are important to them.

Some of the changes proposed by the Ohio House of Representatives to the Governor’s Operating Budget: Health, Human Services and Medicaid • HC2870-4 - Creates legislative guardrails around the Group VIII Medicaid spending through Controlling Board (CB). Transfers the state share to the Health and Human Services Fund. The Controlling Board can release the funds upon request from the Medicaid Director once every six months. Specifies conditions that must be met for the release including obtaining waivers from CMS for an innovative waiver regarding health insurance coverage and the Healthy Ohio Program, and enforcing the law regarding cost estimates for patients.

• HC2342 - Increase funding for nursing facilities (NFs) by $60.5 M in FY’18 and $40.0 M in FY’19.

• HC2718-1 & HC2483 – Increases 653-606, ICF/IID and Waiver Match, by $15,356,318 and 653- 654, Medicaid Services, by $25,055045 in FY’19 and removes prohibitions on the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) from increasing reimbursement rates or the number of waivers currently available.

• HC2920 – Sets the appropriation ceiling for aggregate hospital payments at $6.9 B per year.

• HC2366 – Corrects the intent of the hospital rates included in the substitute bill to clarify the rates in effect for the biennium are the rates in effect on January 1, 2017 unless total appropriations exceed the aggregate ceiling.

• HC2245 – Specifies that home health care is an in-demand industry sector.

• HC2503 - Requires state pharmacy board, upon request, to provide a peer review committee of any health care entity with information from OARRS relating to a health care professional, if it is for evaluation, supervision, or disciplinary purposes.

• HC2839 – Removes the behavioral health pilot program in Lucas County created in the sub-bill.

• HC2669 - Removes a requirement that FQHC Primary Care Workforce Initiative assist FQHCs with developing recruitment and retention practices for health professional designations.

• HC2695 – Moves the earmarks of $8.8 M to provide $100,000 to each county department of job and family services from 600-533, Child, Family and Community Protection Services, to 600-523, Family and Children Services.

• HC2783 – Relocates the $10 M earmark for kinship care from 600-410, TANF MOE, to 600689, TANF Block Grant.

• HC2275 - Extends a Medicaid demonstration project in Lucas Co. under which recipients receive NF services instead of hospital services in a free-standing long-term care hospital. Adds facilities in Brown and Seneca counties. Allows facilities built after January 1, 2010 to be eligible.

• HC2433 – Creates a pilot program in Franklin County to develop a software program to help Medicaid recipients to remember appointments and locate transportation.

• HC2439 - Requires the Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) to develop a registry for suspected elder abuse, create an obligation for some financial professionals to protect the elderly from financial crimes and establishes the Ohio Elder Abuse Commission.

(For a complete list of Amendments to Primary & Secondary, Higher Education; General Government etc. contact the House of Senate Clerk or visit: http://www.lsc.ohio.gov/ and click on Budget and Related Documents)

WEEK OF JUNE 5: Sub bill prep week.

• Public testimony at discretion of Chair.

WEEK OF JUNE 12: Sub bill unveiling; Omnibus amendment.

• Mon, June 12: Introduce sub bill in full Finance (mid-afternoon); public testimony at discretion of Chair. First take summary sent out by email by the end of the day.

• Thurs, June 15: TENTATIVE OMNIBUS AMENDMENT DEADLINE at 5pm.

WEEK OF JUNE 19: Omnibus amendment; Finance Committee vote; Senate floor vote.

• Monday, June 19: Internal deadline for amendments to be offered in Finance committee.

• Tues, June 20: Accept omnibus amendment & consider other amendments; TENTATIVE Committee vote.

• Weds, June 21: TENTATIVE Senate floor vote.

WEEK OF JUNE 26: Conference Committee; House & Senate votes on Conference Committee report.

Additional Contacts

UPDATE: The Ohio General Assembly sessions and the House and Senate Finance Committee as well as, the Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid; Education; Transportation, Commerce and Labor (through June 30, 2017); and the Local Government, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee (effective July 1, 2017) will be televised live on WOSU/WPBO and replays can be viewed at www.ohiochannel. org (specific House and Senate sessions and committee hearings can be searched in the video archives).

Televised Live Committee Schedules (subject to change at the chair’s discretion): Health, Human Services and Medicaid: Tuesdays at 3:15pm Senate Tentative Scheduled Hearings for Finance: Tuesdays at 2:30pm Education: Wednesday at 3:15pm 2-year Operating Budget, House Bill 49: WEEK OF MAY 1: House Omnibus amendment, Local Government, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee: Tuesdays at 9:45am House floor vote & Senate informal hearings.

• Mon, May 1: Accept omnibus amendment & If you would like to receive updated information report bill from committee. on the Ohio General Assembly and policy • Tues, May 2: House floor vote.

• Senate Finance Committee and subcommittee initiatives introduced, call or email my office at 614.466.5131 or tavares@ohiosenate.com hearings as follows: to receive the Tavares Times News monthly (Full Finance Committee): • Tuesday, May 2: Department of Higher legislative newsletter. The committee schedules, full membership rosters and contact information Education • Wednesday, May 3: Department of Education for the Ohio House and Senate can be found at: www.ohiohouse.gov and www.ohiosenate.gov & OBM respectively.

(Subcommittees): • Thursday, May 4 all Subcommittees meeting If you are interested in getting the House to hear testimony from agencies Calendar each week of the General Assembly, WEEKS OF MAY 8-26: Senate subcommittees contact the House Clerk, http://www.ohiohouse. gov/housecalendar/house_calendar.pdf or your meet.

• We d , M a y 1 0 : R e v i e w i n c a u c u s t h e state Representative. Senate calendars are available at www.ohiosenate.gov; contact the subcommittee report & amendment process.

Senate Clerk’s office at (614) 466-4900 or your WEEK OF MAY 29: Subcommittee reports state Senator. to full Finance Committee/Sub bill amendment Sen. Charleta B. Tavares, D-Columbus, is proud deadline.

• Mon, May 29: Memorial Day; Public testimony to serve and represent the 15th District, including the historic neighborhoods of Columbus and at the discretion of the Chair. the cities of Bexley and Grandview Heights • Finalized Subcommittee reports due.

• Tues, May 30: Subcommittee reports to Finance in the Ohio Senate. She serves as the Ohio Senate Assistant Minority Leader and the viceCommittee.

• Weds, May 31: TENTATIVE AMENDMENT chair of the Finance – Health and Medicaid Subcommittee; Ranking Member of the Senate DEADLINE to sub bill at 5pm.

Transportation, Labor & Workforce and Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committees.

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

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The Columbus African American • May 2017

RELIGION “THE PERSISTENT WIDOW”

By Rev. Dr. Tim Ahrens Note: On Monday Night, May 1st, Dr. Ahrens delivered this reflection to the 2017 BREAD Nehemiah Assembly with 3,000 people present.

Jesus spoke in Parables to teach lessons about justice and right relationships. In Luke 18:1-8, we read the Parable of the Unjust Judge – or as I prefer to call it – The Persistent Widow.

Pray and never lose heart. That is what Jesus tells us in this Parable. As the story opens, we don’t know what the widow needs - although it is not hard to guess. As a widow, scripture tells us, she is treated as an outcast. Under the law in Jesus’ time, she cannot inherit her deceased husband’s estate. It goes straight to her sons or her brotherin-law. She lives at the mercy of her close and extended family’s men. We don’t know what, but something is wrong in these relationships. Her identity has been taken away. She has no ID. No legal rights. She stands alone.

The widow goes to the powerful judge who the story tells us is not a respectable judge. By his own admission, he does not fear God. And he does not respect any person. Maybe he thinks being Godless and heartless makes him a better judge - more impartial, or something like that.

Whatever the case, God does not get to him.

People do not get to him. But, this widow gets to him. Even though he “never gives her the time of day,” she gets to him because she throws a mean right punch. In the Greek, the judge uses a boxing term to describe the widow – “She gives him a black eye.”

Here is how the judge talks about it, “I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding” (Luke 18:4-6).

The widow “badgers” the judge. She gives him a black eye. His self-interest for responding to her is not equity or justice, but conceit. He does not want to walk around town with a black eye and make up stories about how he got it.

Anyone who has watched the widow at work, persistently going after the judge day and night, knows exactly where he got his black eye. So, the judge grants justice to save his face - literally.

Isn’t this the way justice is granted too many times? It is granted by judges or elected leaders and others with power, money, and the law on their side who feel bothered by “the outcast” people – like the widow. We have too many “outcasts” in Columbus. We have children who are cast out of schools and end up on the streets. They are cast off the streets and end up in prisons. And once they are cast out of prison – they end up living in “no man’s land.” They can’t get good jobs and take control of their lives and then they become real victims of a community that doesn’t value them. Our outcasts are too The Columbus African American • May 2017

often poor – widows, immigrants, refugees, foster children, Black people, Brown people, young people, women of all ages, all who have been forsaken and forgotten and all who are – like the widow in this story - left alone to be their own champions and advocates in this world.

In the face of this reality, elected and appointed leaders too often speak as though they are persecuted and picked on, when in fact they are the ones who have the power and position to do the right thing - but don’t. Now we know this doesn’t define everyone with power but it does define those who yield their power abusively or simply neglect to do their jobs as “public servants” and “elected or appointed officials.”

In order to save their faces, these neglectful powerful ones will spit and fume and make up stories and eventually somewhere down the line they just might do the right thing and grant justice. We would like to believe they do it for all the right reasons. But, when they have no respect for God or people, it takes the cry of those for whom persistence is their only path to break through injustice.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way, “justice delayed is justice denied.” I think our widow stopped by Coretta Scott King’s house on her way to see the judge! Because when she showed up in his court, she wouldn’t put up with justice being delayed OR denied any longer. He knew her voice and her face. And he was scared of her right hook for all the wrong reasons.

But, the passage doesn’t end where justice is granted. Remember, I told you at the beginning, this was a parable about praying and never losing heart. At the end of the parable Jesus asks, “But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”

(Luke 18:8).

You get the feeling Jesus didn’t know many persistent widows, or at least not enough of

HIGH STREET - SUITE 102, COLUMBUS, OH 43215

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them. Maybe Jesus never met the persistent, provocation, determined, justice-seeking widows known as Building Responsibility Equality and Dignity! That’s right – I just called BREAD a Persistent Widow! Better yet – more like 3,000 Persistent Widows working together or justice.

We have been treated by too many in our pews and in the seats of power for 20 years like the widow – outcasts and marginalized. I for one am sick and tired of being treated like outcasts for simply standing up and doing justice in this city.

So, let’s OWN who we are! We are Persistent Widows! We Are BREAD! Since Jesus is worried about returning and NOT finding “persistent faith on earth” – let’s stand up and be counted tonight. Let’s show Jesus what real persistent faith looks like!

I believe the Holy Spirit has done some fantastic organizing tonight. Ms. Holy Spirit is an excellent Justice Network Member. She has invited three people to this 2017 Nehemiah Action. She has brought three of her dearest friends - Moses, Nehemiah and Jesus. The four of them will give us extra spiritual power for change tonight! So let’s show them all what persistent faith on earth looks like.

Come and stand with us Holy Spirit. Come and stand with us Jesus, Moses and Nehemiah – as we have stood together FOR you for over 20 years! Come and meet the BREAD Organization – meet faith on earth – “the persistent widows’ organization.” Although we won’t be swinging with a right hook, we will march, and organize, and sing, and move justice forward. We are your kind of people!

And to everyone in this room tonight - Remember Jesus’ words – Pray and Never Lose Heart!

Remember the Persistent Widow. Don’t ever give persisting and pursuing justice for all.

Never, ever give up! God bless you all! BREAD RISES.

503 S.

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

TRANSPORTATION CURTIS STITT TO RETIRE, CAPPING TRANSFORMATIVE TENURE AS PRESIDENT AND CEO

Having served 18 years at the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), including the past five as president and CEO, W. Curtis Stitt announced at this morning’s Board of Trustees meeting that he will retire Sept. 30. Appointed to lead COTA on Feb. 1, 2012, Stitt oversaw the transformation of public transit in Central Ohio, including a downtown circulator, an airport shuttle and a comprehensive redesign of the entire bus network.

“As I look back on my tenure, I’m grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to work with so many great people, and I am extremely proud of what we achieved together,” Stitt said. “We’ve leveraged new technology, innovative thinking and old-fashioned common sense to make public transit more convenient and efficient, and to meet the needs of more people.”

COTA’s accomplishments during Stitt’s tenure as president and CEO include: • S m a r t R i d e a n d G R E AT, t a rg e t e d partnerships which have connected people to New Albany and Groveport-Rickenbacker job centers; • CBUS, the downtown circulator, which has enhanced economic development along High Street while introducing new riders to COTA; • AirConnect, the shuttle that makes the trip from downtown to John Glenn Columbus International Airport and back every 30 minutes; • The Smart City Challenge, the bid, supported by COTA, which netted $50 million for advanced transportation in Columbus from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Vulcan Inc.; • Syncing COTA’s bus schedule with Transit App so passengers can check their smart phones to find out where a bus is at any given moment and when it will arrive; • The renewal – with support from more than 72 percent of Franklin County voters – of COTA’s 10-year operating levy in November of 2016, which highlighted a period of unprecedented financial stability; • The Transit System Redesign, which beginning Monday will revamp COTA’s entire bus network to deliver more direct and faster service throughout Central Ohio; • CMAX, the bus rapid transit service launching in January, which will move passengers along the Northeast Corridor on Cleveland Avenue to downtown and back 20 percent faster than COTA’s traditional bus service; and • NextGen, the inclusive community

planning process to develop the public transportation system to meet the needs of our community as it grows by 1 million residents by 2050.

“Curtis’ strong leadership has brought COTA into a new era of public transit. Under Curtis’ direction, COTA is transforming itself with the current system redesign, implementation of the multimodal bus rapid transit line, and technology advances like Transit App,” said Jean Carter Ryan, COTA Board of Trustees Chair. “On behalf of the board, I want to thank Curtis for his service and dedication, not only to COTA, but to the Central Ohio community. We wish him all the best.”

The Board of Trustees will launch a nationwide search for the next COTA president and CEO. “Curtis leaves COTA with big shoes to fill – and we are determined to fill them, ensuring a smooth leadership transition,” said Trudy Bartley, Board of Trustees Vice Chair. “We will convene a Search Committee comprised of trustees and community leaders to secure an experienced executive recruiter to assemble a strong, diverse pool of qualified candidates.”

Prior to his appointment as president and CEO, Stitt served one year as COTA’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. Before that, he served 12 years as COTA’s legal counsel, including six years as general counsel and vice president of legal and government affairs. Prior to joining COTA, Stitt held several legal and administrative leadership positions, including superintendent of Ohio’s Division of Financial 33

Institutions, superintendent of the Ohio Division of Credit Unions and legal counsel both to the Ohio Division of Banks and the Ohio Division of Credit Unions. He also served three years as corporations counsel for the Ohio Secretary of State, and three years as appellate counsel for the Franklin County Public Defender.

Stitt has served numerous community organizations and continues to serve on the boards of Experience Columbus, Capital University, Action for Children, the Ohio Public Transit Association and the American Public Transportation Association. A longtime coach, administrator, and organizer of track and field programs, Stitt founded New World Track Club, Inc. in 1987. He was a finalist for the 2003 Jefferson Award and received the 2009 Jewel Award for his volunteer and community service.

Stitt earned a B.A. from Kent State University and a J.D. from Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law. He is a member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, is married to his wife, Lana, and has a daughter and two granddaughters.

The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) is the regional public transit provider for Greater Columbus and central Ohio. With a service area of 1.2 million residents, COTA provides more than 18 million passenger trips per year, and employs more than 1,000 people. COTA operates throughout Franklin County, and parts of Delaware, Fairfield, Licking and Union counties.

For more information about COTA, visit COTA. com or call (614) 228-1776.

TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

HISTORY DR. NOAH ELLIOTT: PIONEERING PHYSICIAN IN ATHENS/BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S BROTHER-IN-LAW

By Rodney Q. Blount, M.A. May marks minority health month. This month is a reminder for all of us to do our best to stay healthy by eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, having regular checkups with the doctor, etc. Good health is especially important considering the health challenges that African Americans face.

African Americans are 1.4 times as likely as whites to have high blood pressure. African Americans are twice as likely as whites to have diabetes. For many cancers, African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any group in the United States. African Americans have 2.4 times the infant mortality rate than non-Hispanic whites do. It is important to also remember that mental health and wellness is very important and too often overlooked.

African Americans are 20 percent more likely to report having serious psychological distress than non-Hispanic whites are. I am grateful that this newspaper publication showcases our several minority doctors, nurses, reforms, laws and health agencies such as the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. It is essential that we remember those who have paved the way for us. Dr. Noah Elliott was the first African American physician in Athens County and paved the way for many other doctors and minorities. Unfortunately, there are few that are aware of who he is and his accomplishments. He had an outstanding career that lasted over six decades.

Dr. Noah Elliott was born enslaved in in Greenup County, Kentucky, on March 10, 1826.

Unfortunately, the records for the records for the first thirty years of his life are sparse. However, it is important to understand the time and events occurring during this time. There were 24 states in 1826. There were around two million Americans of African descent, nearly 1.75 million of them enslaved. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was in effect for six years, which was an effort to quell the divide between the North and South by balancing the number of free and slave states. The peace from the Missouri Compromise was short lived as the nation continued to divide, culminating in several skirmishes within the new states, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia (then a part of Virginia), and the Civil War in 1861.

By 1860, the federal census of Gallipolis, Ohio, designated Noah Elliott’s occupation as a physician. During the Civil War (1861–1865), he served as a hospital steward in the 26th United States Colored Infantry (USCI). This rank seems to have combined some of the functions of modern hospital administrators, pharmacists, dentists, physicians and nurses.” A website about of hospital stewards provides a detailed account of this rank: The hospital steward, serving either the Federal or Confederate Army in a regiment or permanent military hospital, was a non-commissioned officer who ranked above the first sergeant of a company.

The Columbus African American • May 2017

D

r. Noah Elliott was the first African American physician in Athens County and paved the way for many other doctors and minorities.

Unfortunately, there are few that are aware of who he is and his accomplishments.

Regulations provided for one hospital steward per regiment. On the line of battle, the steward would assist at a dressing station or in the field hospital.

On the march he was responsible for the hospital supplies and medicine chests. He oversaw the general administration of the hospital, and his duties included supervision and discipline of the other hospital attendants, ventilation, lighting, and heating of the hospital, purchasing and caring for hospital supplies, keeping hospital records, and supervision of food services. Other duties included maintenance of the hospital dispensary and the preparation and administration of prescribed medicines. He was also authorized to apply dressings and bandages, apply cups and leeches, extract teeth, and administer enemas and injections to the urethra.

The 26th USCI regiment was organized at Rikers Island, N.Y., under the command of Colonel William B. Guernsey and served under the U.S. Army’s Department of the South. The soldiers spent a significant amount of time in South Carolina and they were a very active unit. Caring for the wounded at the Johns Island engagement, as well as in the other battles, provided Hospital Steward Elliott the opportunity to showcase his medical skills. Furthermore, disease accounted for almost 75 percent of the 26th USCI deaths and his previous experience and expertise enabled him to take care of the sick with better results. According to Dyers Compendium, they participated in engagements and suffered 145 loses due to combat (30) and disease (115).

In Dr. Elliott’s military pension record, one document detailed the different locations in which he practiced medicine after his discharge from the United States Army. The document listed Dr. Elliott in Lee Township of Athens County, Ohio, in 1865 and 1866, and in Gallipolis from 1866 to 1874, where he had lived before the Civil War. “He returned to Lee Township in 1874, where he remained until 1884 and then moved to the City of Athens, where he resided at the time he completed the form on April 16, 1889. Concerning all these locations, he wrote, “My occupation has been that of a physician.”

The census reports of 1870 and 1880 confirm his stated locations and profession.”

Two years after his arrival to Athens, Dr. Noah Elliott hosted a prominent wedding at his 34

residence at 193 West Washington Street. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the west-side area around West Washington Street, Pratt Street and Maple Street was where many African Americans in Athens lived. On August 11, 1886, Dr. Elliott’s sister-in-law Olivia Davidson married the renowned black educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute Booker T. Washington. Olivia Davidson and Washington met when Davidson was a student at the Hampton Normal A&I in Virginia and Washington was the main speaker at the graduation ceremony. The house where the marriage took place still stands. Olivia Davidson was the sister of his second wife, Mary A. Davidson. In an 1898 document he identified his first wife as Mariah Hughes, who died in Ohio, but in 1915 he called her Maria Pogue, “a slave girl” who died in Kentucky. Dr. Elliott and his second wife, Mary Davidson, were married in Oswego, New York, in 1862. Mary corresponded with Booker T. Washington on a lifelong basis, even after her sister passed away in 1889. She also owned a milliner shop (which was similar to a hat and clothes shop).

Dr. Elliott died on February 2, 1918, in Columbus, where he had moved after leaving Athens around 1890. According to his obituary in The Columbus Evening Dispatch, he was a most devoted physician who “maintained his practice until his illness forced him to give it up about six weeks [prior to his death].” His passing was also noted in the Journal of the American Medical Association. His good deeds survived him beyond the grave. On Sunday, March 17, 1918, the Columbus Dispatch reported, “Mrs. Noah Elliot, wife of the late Dr. Elliot, will throw the first shovel of dirt at the ground breaking of the new Spring St. YMCA.” Mrs. Elliot, near 90 years in age, had been born a slave before the Civil War. In 1918, she and her husband contributed $500 to the YMCA building fund.”

Dr. Elliott’s life was filled with excitement, adventure, tenacity and dedication. I believe it is incumbent upon us to continue to unearth our heroes and heroines of our past. Thank you Dr. Elliott for leading the way.

Works Cited http://www.seorf.ohiou.edu/xx057/notables.html http://www.cordingleyneurology.com/chapter9. html http://case.edu/orgs/oamh/PP/Denbow.pdf https://www.aetna.com/about-us/racial-ethnicequity/minority-health-statistics.html http://www.geocities.com/hospital_steward/ WhoAndWhat https://www.ohiohistory.org/ http://www.athensnews.com/ Rodney Blount is an Educator and Historian. He received two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Ball State University and a Masters of Arts degree from The Ohio State University. His work has been featured in several publications. Roderick is a native of Columbus, Ohio and is a member of several organizations.

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

CITY COUNCIL

BUSINESS

“MY BROTHER’S KEEPER”

By James Miller Shannon Hardin wants young men of color in his hometown to be successful, and he believes the City of Columbus can play a vital role in fulfilling this mission.

The challenge, according to the Columbus city councilmember, is identifying how to lift up a group of young men who are lagging behind in a city with a nationally ranked public university, growing opportunities for young professionals and a low unemployment rate.

Presidential Call to Action In February 2014, President Barack Obama launched the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative.

At the time, Hardin, a graduate of Morehouse College and a member of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, was working on Mayor Michael Coleman’s staff as the External Affairs Manager, LGBTQ liaison and a member of the mayor’s Religious Advisory Commission.

“Mayor Coleman signed on immediately. My Brother’s Keeper, or MBK as it became to be known, was a challenge issued to cities and primarily to mayors to step up to find more opportunities for young men of color, both African American and Latino men,” said Hardin.

The MBK Community Challenge issued by the President was meant to address persistent opportunity gaps facing young boys and men of color so they could reach their full potential.

The strategy was to enlist leaders from the public sector, business, faith-based organizations, nonprofit and education fields to identify strategies that would intervene directly in lives of those struggling in school or with difficult family situations.

The MBK Initiative laid out six ambitious goals: • Ensure all children enter school cognitively, physically and emotionally ready.

• Ensure all children read at grade level by the third grade.

• Ensure all youth graduate from high school.

• Ensure all youth complete post-secondary education or training.

• Ensure all youth out of school are employed.

• Ensure all youth remain safe from violent crime.

The City of Columbus agreed and viewed the success of the young men growing up in lowincome neighborhoods, segregated by class to be tightly entwined to the fate of the city’s future.

“The first thing we did in 2014 was host a community event where we brought together service providers that are engaged, or touch the lives of young men of color. About 400 attended and showed great interest, so we had a database of people already involved,” said Hardin.

“Mayor Coleman and I established a working group that represented faith-based, private sector and business people, which is part of the MBK process,” Hardin explained.

The product of the working group was to produce a report that would be a foundational guide to address the six goals the president laid out.

To garner input from the students’ perspectives, the task force partnered with Columbus City Schools, Franklin County Jobs & Family Services and others to host four youth summits at Linden McKinley, West, South and Walnut Ridge high

schools. The task force attempted to answer three questions: • What does living a happy, healthy and productive life look like?

• What are the main obstacles to achieving that life?

• What kind of support, opportunities and resources are needed to achieve a happy and productive life?

“What I found most surprising was that, given a safe environment where these young men could open up about real issues, they talked about mental health issues,” said Hardin.

“I sat in on a session of middle schoolers, eighth graders, and they’re talking about depression and stress related to bullying. I wouldn’t believe that could be something they would even talk about. The teenagers ASKED for mentors, literally saying ‘We don’t have anyone in our communities that we can look up to,’” Hardin continued.

“So often, we as adults, we who work on policy to solve issues, think we have all the answers.

It just proved to me that if you ask the right questions, they will articulate in a real, practical way,” said Hardin.

The report, titled My Brother ’s Keeper Initiative, Youth Perspective, and Next Step Recommendations, (www.columbus.gov/ MBK2015) was issued on Oct. 14, 2014. It was compiled by a who’s who of city faith leaders, principals, workforce development, police, university faculty and business leaders.

The Report recommended four next steps: appoint a person in the Mayor’s office to lead the city’s MBK efforts; enhance HandsOn Central Ohio and Columbus 311 centralized referral systems to connect residents to existing programs; convene existing service providers to identify specific ways to work together to support African American male youth in education, personal development, health, relationships and community; use data to establish short and long-term goals to measure success of African American youth.

“The report indicated we needed to do ‘deep dives’ into health and safety, mentorship, recidivism and education. We needed a convening point, perhaps web based, where folks could get information about programing,” said Hardin.

“The report became the guiding post.”

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Water Splashed in the Face Shortly after the report was issued, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Broderick Johnson, cabinet secretary to President Obama and chair of My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, visited Columbus to participate in a very public kick-off the city’s MBK initiative.

“He praised our efforts, and publicly said we were on the right track. But afterward, he told us if this was to be something serious, something you can go after funding for, you’re going to have to have data and measurements of progress and success. He really threw the cold water on us,” recalled Hardin.

“We needed metric based goals. As Mayor Ginther says, “if you’re not measuring it, then you don’t mean it,” said Hardin.

The city hosted a My Brother’s Keeper public hearing on March 2nd, 2017 to share progress on the action items outlined in the 2014 report.

Among the steps taken by the city included the hiring of Karim Jackson to be the point person on the city’s MBK work, housed in newly created Department of Neighborhoods. The city has also partnered with Columbus City Schools to establish a Mentorship Working Group, and with it, a volunteer recruitment campaign. The city also approved a $30,000 study by the Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for Race and Ethnicity to gather demographic and achievement metrics for young boys of color.

The Kirwan report, due in 2017, is key to establishing metrics-based goals, according to Hardin. He feels the city, armed with the metrics, can play a role as convener and facilitator between city and county governments, nonprofits and private businesses, to share best practices of those organizations working to help young people.

Additionally, the metrics will become a basis for awarding city funding and a vehicle to attract state and federal funding, based on the ability to track progress to specific goals of lower violence, improving school achievement and reducing recidivism.

“It’s not just about gathering data. It’s about who’s doing credible work out there, who’s touching the lives of young people,” said Hardin.

With a diversified economy and an educated workforce, Columbus has absorbed over 81,000 new workers into the labor force in the last decade. The city’s unemployment rate is 4.5 percent, mirroring the national average in March, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (compared to Ohio’s 5.1 unemployment rate statewide).

However, unemployment for African Americans was 8.1 percent nationally during the same period. A significant number of new jobs created in Columbus, an emerging regional transportation hub, are in service and warehouse sectors where lower wages and short-term employment are common.

Although unemployment rates have steadily dropped over the last 10 years, the percentage of Franklin County residents living in poverty has remained fairly steady at about 17 percent over the same decade, according to the Ohio Development Services Agency 2017 Ohio Poverty Report. In urban centers like Columbus, the burden of persistent poverty falls disproportionately on communities of color.

TheAmerican ColumbusNews African American • May 2017 The Columbus African Journal • February 2015

COMMUNITYEVENTS May 8, 2017 PrimaryOne Health Annual Community Meeting and Reception Join us as we introduce our new board members and share with the community how we are working to improve the health status of central Ohio families.

Location: Columbus Metropolitan Library Downtown Address: 96 S. Grant Avenue, 3rd Floor Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM 5/12/2017 East Meets West Festival This multi-media program presents a sensuous mix of eastern and middle-eastern colors. In addition to the enduringly popular suite Scheherazade by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov (which was inspired by the Arabian Nights legends), it features Bartók’s electrifying pantomime, The Miraculous Mandarin, performed in combination with an original video by artist Tim McLoraine, plus The Grand Canal, a piece that brings together a symphony orchestra with traditional instruments and an opera singer from China.

Location: Ohio Theatre Address: 39 E. State Street Columbus, OH 43215 Time: 8:00 PM Admission: $10-$68 Web: https://www1.ticketmaster.com/event/05005101AFCA56B1 ?brand=columbussymphony 5/14/2017 Columbus Coalition for the Homeless Marsha Donner Mother’s Day Brunch The Mother’s Day Brunch provides mothers with an elegant brunch on the campus of Capital University. Each mother receives a corsage upon entrance to the event. Each table is graced with a floral arrangement and special cookie favors. During the brunch, professional photographers are available to provide family portraits; free children’s books and a gift bag for each mother in attendance are provided.

Location: Capital University Please Call: The Columbus Coalition for the Homeless at (614) 288-1342 Donations for The Event: https://www.gofundme.com/marshadonner-mothers-day-brunch Web: http://www.columbushomeless.org/get-involved/ 5/16/2017 The Dream Awards The King Arts Complex and the Women’s Service Board honors individuals that have lived their lives and their dreams making differences in the lives of others. Each honoree has demonstrated purpose, persistence, and passion.

May 17, 2017 Second Baptist Church Celebrates 78th Annual Women’s Day The celebration will include the following public activities: Sweet Hour of Prayer on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 11:00 and at 6:00 pm.; Sunday morning worship service will begin at 10:45 am Sunday, May 20, 2017 featuring speaker Minister Floria Washington, First Lady of Second Baptist Church Location: Second Baptist Church Address: 186 N. 17th Street, 43203 Time: Wednesday, May 17 at 11:00 PM & 6:00 PM; Sunday, May 20 at 10:45 AM Web: www.secondbaptistcolumbus.com 5/18/2017 Isabelle Ridgway Foundation Special Event & Keynote Address The event will feature with Dr. James H. Johnson.

Location: The Columbus Foundation, Davis Hall Address: 1234 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 Time: 10:30 PM RSVP: Donna Jordan (614) 251-4000 5/20/2017 An Evening Affair - The African Diaspora EditionAn Evening Affair The African Diaspora Edition, is a event celebrating our African heritage. Come join Urbanite Plug for a fun evening of wine tasting and speed dating with some of Columbus’ most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. Just like last year, all can sign up, but only 15 men and 15 women will be choosen to attend. Once you get your candidate ticket, you will recieved a follow up email to answer a few questions to complete your profile. Early May, all choosen participants will be notified and will have a limited amount of time to purchase your ticket.

Location: Upper Cup Coffee Address: 79 Parsons Avenue Time: 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM Sign up for required invite at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anevening-affair-african-diaspora-edition-tickets-32340389977 5/20/2017 King Arts Complex: 30th Anniversary Gala Come out and celebrate a milestone with the King Arts Complex at their 30th Anniversary Gala. This year’s musical guest will be multi-platinum award winning R&B group Dru Hill and DJ Spinderella of the group Salt & Pepa. For tickets visit the website below.

Location: Hilton Columbus Downtown Address: 401 North High Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 Time: 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM Admission: $100 General, $200 VIP Web: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/30th-anniversary-galatickets-31735362323

Location: The King Arts Complex, Barbara R. Nicholson Auditorium Address: 867 Mt. Vernon Ave. Columbbus, OH 43203 Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Admission: Free Web: http://kingartscomplex.com/dream-awards/

The Columbus African American •News May 2017 Journal • February 2015

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COMMUNITYEVENTS May 20, 2017 Male Chorus 58th Anniversary Concert Come and worship with us as the Male Chorus of The Friendship Missionary Baptist Church celebrates its 58th Anniversary.

This group of talented, gifted and anointed men has been an inspiration to Friendship, other churches and the community at large. Eight to ten Male Choruses from other churches will provide a program of inspirational and spiritual musical selections. For more information, call 614-279-0008.

5/25/2017 26th Annual Living Faith Awards The Spirituality Network is pleased to present the Living Faith Awards.

As a multifaith organization, the Spirituality Network aspires to be a community of acceptance and inclusion. We seek to create hope, peace, and purpose in our community. We are pleased to honor individuals who create a more hopeful, peaceful, and faithful world.

Location: Jewish Community Center Address: 1125 College Avenue, Columbus Time: 7:45 AM - 10:00 AM Admission: $35 individual / groups of 8 or more, $30 per person Web: http://www.spiritualitynetwork.org/livingfaith.html

Location: Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Address: 1775 W Broad St, 43223 Time: 5:00 PM Admission: Free Web: www.FMBCOH.org

05/27/17 - 05/28/17 Asian Festival This annual event with more than 100,000 visitors and will continue to grow, thanks to the strong participation of many people regardless of origin and ethnicity. Because of the tremendous success, the festival has received strong support from state, city, corporate, and communities every year since its beginning in 1995. The festival is also recognized as one of the major special events in Central Ohio.

May 20, 2017 24th Annual Kappa Wine Sip Join the Columbus Alumnae Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. for their annual Wine Sip event. This is the social event of the year with proceeds to benefit the Kenneth L. Howard Scholarship Fund, which provides money to help young men attend college. For tickets, please call P.R. West at 614-2263873.

Location: Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Address: 1777 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43203 Time: Saturday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m and Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Admission: Free Web: http://www.asian-festival.org/

Location: Hollywood Casino Event Center Address: 200 Georgesville Rd., 43228 Time: 8:00 PM - 2:00 AM Admission: Advance Tickets $40 Web: www.FMBCOH.org

June 3, 2017 SOUL 614 at Commons Enjoy performances from yesterday and today’s R&B, Hip Hop and Classic Soul super starts at this all day event. This year’s performers include: Ginuwine, Slick Rick, Sunshine Anderson, Rakim, Twista and more. For more information or for tickets call 614-383-9442.

05/24/17 - 05/25/17 Harmony Project’s “Dream On” Five years later, 100 students are participating weekly in afterschool programming where their voices are being empowered and their energies are being focused to give back to their community in service. South High School is located in one of Columbus’ most socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods.

89.3% of all students at South High School qualify for free lunch, which means their annual family income is less than $15,171. This concert benefits the program. Concert sales go to funding the program.

Location: Columbus Commons Address: 160 S. High Street, 43215 Time: 3:00 PM - 11:00 PM Admission: $25 - $100 Web: www.SOUL614.com 06/9/17 - 06/11/17 Columbus Arts Festival More than 280 nationally acclaimed artists, the Columbus Arts Festival takes over the downtown riverfront. Stroll along the Scioto Mile and enjoy the art, entertainment and food that make this event so special.

Location: Ohio Theatre Address: 39 E. State St., Columbus, OH 43215 Time: 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM (Recurs Daily) Admission: $25 - $50 Web: https://www.harmonyproject.com/

Location: Scioto Mile Address: 100 E. Broad St. Time: Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Admission: Free Web: www.columbusartsfestival.org/

Please note: Information for this section is gathered from multiple commnuity sources. The Columbus African American is not responsible for the accuracy and content of information. Times, dates and locations are subject to change. If you have an event that you would like to feature in this section, please call 614-3404891 or email us at editor@columbusafricanamerican.com. Submissions are due the last Friday of each month.

The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015

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The Columbus African American • May 2017

THE COLUMBUS AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWS JOURNAL PARTIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST

COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES

RESTAURANTS

Capital University - Student Union Columbus State Community College - Franklin Hall Franklin University Ohio Dominican University OSU Hospital East OSU Medical Center OSU Diversity & Inclusion Bricker Hall OSU African American & African Studies Community Extension Center

A Family Affair La Glory Cafe New Harvest Cafe Old Bag of Nails Super Chefs The Lincoln Cafe (Formerly known as Zanzibar Brews)

GROCERY STORES The Hill’s Market Kroger - Bexely Kroger - Whitehall Kroger - Reynoldsburgh Kroger - Gahanna Kroger - German Village Kroger - Short North/Campus The Columbus African American is the largest minority publication in Central LIBRARIES Ohio with over 40,000 readers. The news journal is distributed on the first Friday of every month at more than 200 locations around the city. Pick up your CML - Driving Park Branch copy today at a location near you!

CML - Gahanna Branch New Jerusalem Baptist Church CHURCHES CML - Canal Winchester Branch New Birth Christian Ministries CML - Hilltop Branch All Nations Church New Salem Missionary Baptist Church CML - Karl Road Branch Asbury North United Methodist Church Oakley Full Gospel Church CML - Linden Branch Christ Memorial Baptist Church Original Glorious C.O.G.I.C. CML - Livingston Branch Columbus Christian Center Refuge Missionary Baptist Church CML - MLK Branch Corinthian Baptist Church Rehoboth Temple of Christ CML - Reynoldsburgh Branch Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Church Rhema Christian Center CML - Shepard Branch Faith Ministries Second Baptist Church CML - Whitehall Branch First A.M.E Zion Church First Church of God Family Missionary Baptist Church Friendship Baptist Church Higher Ground A.A. Hosack St. Baptist Church Jordan Baptist Church Kingdom Christian Center Living Faith Apostolic Church Love Zion Baptist Church Maynard Ave Baptist Church Mt. Hermon Missionary Baptist Church Mt. Olivet Baptist Church Mt. Vernon AME

Shiloh Baptist Church

AARP Ohio Jenkins Terrace Isabelle Ridgeway Care Center Summit’s Trace Wexner Heritage Village STATE, COUNTY & CITY DEPARTMENTS ADAMH of Franklin County Columbus Health Department COWIC Dept. Jobs & Family Services Franklin County Children Services Ohio Dept. of Transportation MISCELLANEOUS Dollar General (Broad & Main) All Neighborhood Health Centers King Arts Complex Homeport C.D. White Funeral Home

St. John AME Church

RECREATION CENTERS

St. Paul AME Church St. Phillip`s Episcopal Church St. Philip Lutheran Church Southfield Missionary Baptist Church Smyrna Missionary Baptist Church Spring Hill Baptist Church Tabernacle Baptist Church Traveler’s Rest Baptist Church Triedstone Missionary Baptist Church Trinity Baptist Church Union Grove Baptist Church Vineyard Columbus

• May Journal 2017 • February 2015 The Columbus African American News

SENIOR CARE ORGANIZATIONS

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Canal Winchester YMCA E.E. Ward Family YMCA Hilltop YMCA North YMCA Barnett Recreation Center Beatty Recreation Center Driving Park Recreation Center Marion Franklin Recreation Center

Caliman Funeral Home Mt. Carmel Hospital East & West 22 Newstands Downtown

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Columbus African American The ColumbusThe African American News Journal • October February2016 2015

There are no routine heart or vascular diseases.

And this is no routine heart hospital. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is home to central Ohio’s only heart hospital ranked “Best” by U.S.News & World Report. At the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital, our dedicated team of cardiologists, heart specialists and surgeons works side-by-side with researchers who are leading more than 200 studies to treat and prevent heart and vascular disease. Each year, our physician and research teams lead national studies on new lifesaving devices, medications and procedures that are improving lives, extending time with loved ones and offering hope against heart disease.

Stopping the number one killer of Americans is no easy task. That’s why care at the Ross Heart Hospital is anything but routine.

Learn more at wexnermedical.osu.edu/osuheart.

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The Columbus African American News Journal • February 2015